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Lightsabers and heat from cutting metal?
Posted: 2004-11-06 05:22pm
by Tech^salvager
Hi folks I was taking to a person via IRC and showed him the new SW3 trailer. Well he brought to my attention about the heat a lightsaber would give off when cutting through metal. Like in ep1 when hes cutting through the blast door.
Here is the talk we had
oh I've seen these sabers once and couldn't stop laughing when a guy cut through a steel door without all the heat burning his skin.
<Tech^salvager> huh
<Tech^salvager> hold brb
*** Join: mdvb_lappy (
Mike@skyos-1CC74F53.client.comcast.net)
<Tech^salvager> had to awnser the phone
<Tech^salvager> Hi
<AnotherOne_AfterDark> you know, the heat produced when cutting through the door would have burned the guy alive really. This is too mich sci-fi for me probably.
<AnotherOne_AfterDark> *much
Is there anything about that or pointed that out before?
Thanks for your help
Tech^
Posted: 2004-11-06 05:24pm
by Rogue 9
Been pointed out before. Note that the person cutting through the door was a Jedi. One proper application of the Force later, and he's not getting burned.
Posted: 2004-11-06 06:19pm
by Mad
Jedi have the ability to absorb incoming energy. We've seen this with Darth Vader in TESB and with Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars series. It's also discussed in various books.
Also, given that the melted metal appeared to be touching Qui-Gon's hand, I'd say this energy absorption power was definitely in use.
Posted: 2004-11-06 06:30pm
by DocHorror
Well either some funky jedi skill or some even funkier asbestos gloves.
Posted: 2004-11-06 07:22pm
by Hardy
Rogue 9 wrote:Been pointed out before. Note that the person cutting through the door was a Jedi. One proper application of the Force later, and he's not getting burned.
That probably explains why he was in a meditative state when he was cutting through the door.
Posted: 2004-11-07 03:59am
by The Cleric
What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
Posted: 2004-11-07 04:28am
by Lord of the Farce
StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
IIRC, it's been mentioned in several books (SOTE being one of them, if I'm not mistaken) that lightsabres normally gives off no (or perhaps more accurately, so little) heat that it's hard to notice.
Posted: 2004-11-07 04:30am
by Winston Blake
StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
Not if the blade has a forcefield effect that keeps air away, which is penetrated when it's thust into solid matter like person or metal blast door.
Part of my understanding of lightsabers is that since people are mostly soft stuff and liquids (which aren't as affected as solids due to the Leidenfrost effect), people don't explode when run through, but blast doors can have 100GW pumped into them.
Posted: 2004-11-07 10:35am
by Mad
Lord of the Farce wrote:StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
IIRC, it's been mentioned in several books (SOTE being one of them, if I'm not mistaken) that lightsabres normally gives off no (or perhaps more accurately, so little) heat that it's hard to notice.
It was mentioned in the ANH novelization:
ANH Novelization, page 65 wrote:Strangely, Luke felt no heat from it, though he was very careful not to touch it. He knew what a lightsaber could do, though he had never seen one before.
Posted: 2004-11-07 12:18pm
by Illuminatus Primus
StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
Microwaves heat things, but are not "hot" in of themselves. The lightsabres obviously excite molecules in the cut material, heating them, but air must not be dense enough to be heated in a significant manner. And the blade itself does not radiate heat.
Posted: 2004-11-07 03:14pm
by The Cleric
Illuminatus Primus wrote:StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:What I don't get is that in Stackpole's "I, Jedi," Corran's lightsaber gives off no heat, but in Ep I, it's melting a metal door. Wouldn't the ambiant heat given off by the blade cause extreme problems for anyone around a Jedi holding a lit saber?
Microwaves heat things, but are not "hot" in of themselves. The lightsabres obviously excite molecules in the cut material, heating them, but air must not be dense enough to be heated in a significant manner. And the blade itself does not radiate heat.
Thanks, that explains it neatly.