American Scientists "Accidentally" Invent Lightsabers

[Foxi4]

Wannabe-Jedi rejoice all around the world as Harvard and MIT physicists announce their latest discovery which may very well lead to the creation of the weapons envisioned by George Lucas, featured in the long-running Space Opera "Star Wars".

"Most of the properties of light we know about originate from the fact that photons are massless and do not interact (...) What we have done is create a special type of medium in which photons interact with each other so strongly that they act as though they have mass, and bind together to form molecules. (...) It's not an in-apt analogy to compare this to lightsabers. When these photons interact with each other, they're pushing against and deflect each other. The physics of what's happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies."
~Professor Mikhail Lukin, Harvard University

You heard it from the mouth of the professor himself - we can now build sabers... out of light. Not that it'd be an actually practical weapon, but it's still an interesting discovery right there...

Ahh, magnets - how do they work?

Source

 

[Zaertix]

*Lucas but otherwise YAY!

 

[Deleted member 473940]

The force is strong! Too strong I am afraid.

 

[Silterpy]

Now all I need is someone at Harvard to invent me a mobile suit, a gundam (I want a wing zero) or a knightmare frame and I'll be happy.
Oh and invent me a Mega Buster while you're at it.

 

[Foxi4]

*Lucas but otherwise YAY!

Corrected, thanks for pointing that out!

 

[duffmmann]

Thats awesome, would it be painful to be stabbed with such a light saber though? Or would the light, (as I suspect it would) just bounce off of anything it comes in contact with? If so, awesome, painless lightsabers sound perfect for costumes, raves, parties, dances, etc, pretty kickass if thats the case.

 

[marksteele]

Thats awesome, would it be painful to be stabbed with such a light saber though? Or would the light, (as I suspect it would) just bounce off of anything it comes in contact with? If so, awesome, painless lightsabers sound perfect for costumes, raves, parties, dances, etc, pretty kickass if thats the case.

you forgot epic nerdouts at cons

 

[Foxi4]

Thats awesome, would it be painful to be stabbed with such a light saber though? Or would the light, (as I suspect it would) just bounce off of anything it comes in contact with? If so, awesome, painless lightsabers sound perfect for costumes, raves, parties, dances, etc, pretty kickass if thats the case.

If they form molecules and "act as if they had mass" then depending on how the medium is stored and how much "mass" we're talking about, you would feel impact... Probably nothing severe, but hey.

 

[Arras]

Well, if they'd act like foam weapons or something they'd be the invention of the century for nerds and roleplayers.

 

[Silterpy]

if it uses magnets than wouldn't the Light Saber look more like the Beam Katana from No More Heros at least for the 1st gen or 2?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

BRB buying lightsaber.

 

[Osha]

Well damn...
Neat.

 

[Gahars]

Lightsabers? In real life?

Now where does the Second Amendment fall when it comes to laser swords?

 

[Foxi4]

if it uses magnets than wouldn't the Light Saber look more like the Beam Katana from No More Heros at least for the 1st gen or 2?

T'was a meme reference, really - it doesn't actually use magnets... I don't think...

 

[Silterpy]

T'was a meme reference, really - it doesn't actually use magnets... I don't think...

well if it did use magnets, I think i would look more like the Beam Katana than a Light Saber based on the technology, i mean it would make sense to have 1 positive magnet at the base and 1 negative magnet at the tip(or vice versa) to make the beam.

 

[calmwaters]

Oh please; the way you make a lightsaber is by creating the handle with the pull down button and when you do, that triggers the magnet to rise from the hole and the light molecules that are attracted to it turn on when they are exposed to air. But hey, I don't work at MIT, so whatever.

if it uses magnets than wouldn't the Light Saber look more like the Beam Katana from No More Heros at least for the 1st gen or 2?

It would.

 

[Hop2089]

I'll order some beam knives, maybe about 10 or 15 please.

 

[Jamstruth]

Thats awesome, would it be painful to be stabbed with such a light saber though? Or would the light, (as I suspect it would) just bounce off of anything it comes in contact with? If so, awesome, painless lightsabers sound perfect for costumes, raves, parties, dances, etc, pretty kickass if thats the case.

Y'know lasers? Really highly concentrated light energy that we direct at things to cut or blind them. This is basically a solid laser beam that can hit things. The edges will be epic-level hot and will slice you up like butter.

 

[DiscostewSM]

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

 

[RedCoreZero]

I wonder what next they would do with condoms