When I first saw Star Wars on its opening day I was captivated by the lightsaber and the scientific part of my brain required a theory for how it worked.
After spending way too much time thinking about it I came up with a theory that the lightsaber generates a super heated plasma contained in a “magnetic bottle”. This theory would explain several aspects of a lightsaber.
When a lightsaber is turned on the magnetic field forms at the tip of the handle and extends outward with super heated plasma contained within the field. That explains how the light seems to extend from the handle.
When two lightsaber plasma blades collide in combat the magnetic fields prevent them from passing through each other since they are of the same magnetic polarity.
Object such as human arms do not repel the plasma blade and therefore are easily cut by the plasma blade.
In some episodes the blade seems to sometimes bounce off metal objects which may be due to an induced magnet field in the metal object created by lightsaber’s magnetic field approaching it.
Other episodes show the lightsaber slowly cutting through metal doors which could be explained by the slow movement of the lightsaber which may not induce as much magnetic resistance.
The different colors you see in lightsabers could be attributed to different kinds of plasma.
The lightsaber humming sound could be caused by the plasma vibrating within the magnetic field.
When the lightsaber is turned off the magnetic field retracts into the handle taking the plasma gas back to its storage container.
The great mystery, for me at least, is the power source for the lightsaber.
You never see a Jedi put a lightsaber on a charging cradle or changing batteries, yet an old lightsaber can spend 20 years in storage and still work….. Tesla Motors would love something like that 🙂
Anyway, time for me to get back to the real world. Thanks for visiting.