Here's How Engineers Use Plasma To Make Real-Life Lightsabers

Children all over the world wanted lightsabers at one point or another in their lives, and when toy lightsabers first hit the shelves, fans rushed to buy one. And as dangerous as a real-life lightsaber would be for the average person to own, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who would turn one down today.

Now, the lightsaber is gradually becoming less of an object from science fiction and more of a reality. A few people from around the world have had the same idea of bringing this iconic sci-fi weapon to life, with most of them using one substance to do it: Plasma. In the most basic terms, plasma is superheated gas. It occurs naturally in both lightning and the sun, but is also used to create computer chips and neon lights. As the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explains, plasma is "so hot that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms forming an ionized gas." Real-life retractable lightsabers create plasma by combining liquid propane gas and oxygen gas with a lot of heat. 

The first person recognized for creating a retractable lightsaber was Alex Burkan from Kazan, Russia. He runs the Alex Lab YouTube channel where he shares videos of his fantastical creations. As a "Star Wars" fan his whole life, he opted to put his scientific mind to work and create his very own Jedi weapon. Burkan managed to fashion the hilt after the one used by Starkiller in the "Force Unleashed" game, and he made it compact enough to fit in his hand while also housing an electrolyser and an entire gas distribution system.

Burkan told Guinness World Records (via Popular Mechanics), "The key component of my lightsaber is an electrolyser," which he explained "can generate a huge amount of hydrogen and oxygen and compress the gas to any pressure without a mechanical compressor." 

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Unlike the crisp, solid blades from the big screen, the blade Burkan's lightsaber produced was jagged and shorter, stretching roughly 3 feet. It reaches just over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is strong enough to cut through solid steel. Also, since it's so compact and doesn't have a never-ending supply of gas to burn, it can only remain ignited for 30 seconds. However, this was just a prototype — the perfect launch pad to improve on.

The people over at Hacksmith Industries like to make gadgets from science fiction a reality, such as Tony Stark's repulsor gauntlets. The company developed the world's first solid-bladed lightsaber through the use of superheated rods and a lot of electricity. However, they didn't stop there because every "Star Wars" fan wants to see a real lightsaber that retracts.

Hacksmith is also working on its own retractable plasma-based one with a hilt that looks like a lightsaber out of the "Star Wars: The High Republic" series. Unlike Burkan's creation, Hacksmith's lightsaber requires an external fuel source, meaning a tube connects the blade's handle to a gas tank. Technically, that makes it a proto-saber, which is still part of the "Star Wars" canon.

One of the interesting aspects of Hacksmith's lightsaber is its ability to change colors by incorporating different salts. Hacksmith engineers have created several variations overall, with the most recent iteration being a self-contained lightsaber staff. Their next goal is to create a lightsaber fueled by liquid oxygen.

Disney, owning the "Star Wars" franchise, couldn't be left out of the lightsaber market. So, it put some of its Imagineers to work designing its own retractable lightsaber in 2017. However, Disney's "real" retractable lightsaber works like 2x tape measures and is vastly different from the ones created by Burkan or Hacksmith.

Unlike the plasma-based lightsabers created by private parties, Disney's epic "real" lightsaber for "Star Wars" doesn't cut through steel. It's merely meant for show, as the engineers designed it with a flexible strip of lights that could potentially break if it collided with anything.

While it's not a product for sale, it's a marvelous piece of engineering, nonetheless. Even if it can't accomplish some of the feats of the other lightsabers that have been created, it still gives the illusion from a distance. Anyway, the only glimpse fans got of this lightsaber, other than some YouTube videos, was at the now closed-down Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World in Florida.