A blade to rule them…uh no, that was different.
Hold a real lightsaber like something from Star Wars in your hands, maybe even hunt dark Jedi and put the blade back on your belt after the work is done. Who hasn’t dreamed of this at least once?
Blade of plasma cuts through steel
A Youtuber probably wanted to fulfill this dream as well and therefore constructed a genuine lightsaber with a blade made of plasma on his own. This cuts through steel much like the Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi role models in Star Wars Episode 1.
link to YouTube content
What is special about a plasma blade? Plasma is a mixture of ionized particles. Specifically, plasma is a type of gas that, unlike normal gas, is electrically conductive, among other things. It is therefore also referred to as the fourth state of matter. With increasing temperature, all substances change from solid to liquid and then to the gaseous state. If the temperature continues to rise, the plasma follows.
Russian social media and Youtube star Alex Burkan aka Alex Lab burns hydrogen and oxygen in his lightsaber to form a plasma, which then shoots out of the tip in the form of a blade. The plasma heats up to 2,800 degrees and even eats through steel, whose melting point, depending on the alloy, is just over 1,500 degrees at most.
At the heart of the lightsaber is what is known as an electrolyser, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen before the two gases are burned.
more on the subject
YouTubers build prototype lightsaber from Star Wars
Not the only one of its kind, but the first
Burkan isn’t the only one working on a plasma-bladed lightsaber. The English-language Youtube channel Hacksmith Industries has also dealt with it and even constructed a prototype with a blade that can reach temperatures of up to 4,000 degrees. Both lightsabers are also retractable by simply stopping the combustion of the gas mixture.
Unlike the Hacksmith Industries blade, however, Burkan’s lightsaber prototype does not rely on a container strapped to the back, which is more reminiscent of a proton pack from Ghostbusters, but contains a cartridge itself and is therefore much more manageable.
This in turn has the disadvantage that the lightsaber can only be operated for 30 seconds. At the same time, the blade is not yet as stable as Burkan would like. However, the development is not yet complete.
Im Guinness Book of Records As of January 21, 2022, Burkan’s plasma blade is listed as the first lightsaber with a retractable blade. Disney, the rights holder of Star Wars, also has a lightsaber. That’s not quite the case hot
, but also suitable for the living room.
