Photo: Hacksmith Industries
Many of us love the Star Wars films, and most would agree that one of the best things about Star Wars is the lightsabres. Who could forget the epic lightsabre battles between Jedis and the Dark Side?
Well, one Canadian engineer decided to turn the dream of having a lightsabre into reality. James Hobson built the functional lightsabre as part of his YouTube series "Make It Real" where he goes by the name "The Hacksmith". Powered by propane gas and oxygen, a tank attached to the back of the user's body fires the chemicals into the sword and creates a plasma type blade, that looks very much like the lightsabres of Star Wars.
Using different salts in the power pack, the lightsabre user can also change the colour of their sword from green, to red and yellow.
Since Hobson released his video on YouTube it has garnered over 12 million views. In the video, he opens by saying:
"We have created the world's first retractable, plasma-based lightsabre."
He goes on to explain his process and the technical constraints he had, saying:
"Well, theories say that plasma is best held in a beam by a magnetic field, which, scientifically, checks out. The issue is producing a strong enough electromagnetic field to contain a blade, well the lightsabre would have to be quite literally built inside a box coated in electromagnets, which turns it into a kind of useless science project. Even with all of our new equipment and capabilities, we're still bound by the laws of thermodynamics."
The beam acting as a blade burns at 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and can cut through almost anything in front of it. In the video, Hobson shows how the beam cuts through metal like a knife through butter, and even snaps titanium in half. Hobson's Patreon supporters can even watch him cut through a steel-door!
While the blade looks really authentic and, it most certainly could chop Darth Vader in half, the fact that it comes with quite a large back-pack means it probably won't be getting picked up by many wannabe Jedi Knights yet. It nevertheless is still immensely cool and guaranteed to be of interest to any Star Wars fan.
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