Lightsabers: "Sheath" of Energy?

[Molyneux]

I simply think it's a combat move from Yoda's side , he trows the Lightsaber in order to kill the trooper , he could then stop and use the Force to retrieve the saber from the ground or he could continue his motion - jump to the trooper (while keeping the saber in place though the Force) and retrieve it that way.

I find it implausible that if Yoda were using telekinesis, that the saber would remain perfectly in place in the trooper's chest, even as the trooper fell to his knees and began to keel over.
That is, of course, unless the lightsaber blade actually imparted reaction force to the armor/torso and vice-versa, in which case it would not be neccessary to hold the saber in place with the force anyway.


Btw, please note that the blade being able to apply force on objects is not the same thing as the blade having mass. It can both apply force and be massless.
I mean, if it can parry and push a super-dense Phrik staff, and Qui-Gon puts his weight on the cut into a blastdoor, why's it so hard to believe that it can stick in an armored chestplate?
Besides, SoD aside, this is obviously the intention of the event.

The blade is most likely massless, but the handle most definitely has mass.

[Aquatain]

I simply think it's a combat move from Yoda's side , he trows the Lightsaber in order to kill the trooper , he could then stop and use the Force to retrieve the saber from the ground or he could continue his motion - jump to the trooper (while keeping the saber in place though the Force) and retrieve it that way.

I find it implausible that if Yoda were using telekinesis, that the saber would remain perfectly in place in the trooper's chest, even as the trooper fell to his knees and began to keel over.
That is, of course, unless the lightsaber blade actually imparted reaction force to the armor/torso and vice-versa, in which case it would not be neccessary to hold the saber in place with the force anyway.
.

If Yoda's focus was to keep the blade in the Troopers chest , wouldn't it follow the Trooper down as he began to keel over?.

[Cykeisme]

If Yoda's focus was to keep the blade in the Troopers chest , wouldn't it follow the Trooper down as he began to keel over?.

Yes, but why on earth would he do that?

I know Yoda is powerful, but it would still take effort and concentration to use TK to keep the blade perfect aligned with the trooper's chest, as he fell to his knees and then keeled over. Isn't it more likely the blade is actually lodged in his chest?

Occam's Razor, gentlemen.

[Connor MacLeod]

I think you've got that backwards. The rapid heating of the blast door implies that its thermal conductivity is much higher than the stormtrooper armour. Conversely, the lack of apparent heating of the stormtrooper armour suggests that it doesn't really conduct heat that well.

In, retrospect, you're right. I did get that backwards.

So some other property then? Perhaps this is indicative of some sort of "active" defensive measure inherent to the armor that keeps the blade "upright". I've mentioned in the past before that there is some indirect referenceing fo "shielding" of some sort.

[Cykeisme]

Right now we can safely say that the amount of force needed to cut through a trooper's armor exceeds the weight of a lightsaber hilt.

Well okay, if anyone wants to do calculations on contact area with the armor and torque (due to the blade actually acting as a lever with two moments: backplate and blade, chestplate as a fulcrum), that would be more precise, but I think the gist of this should be intuitive.


Anyway, regardless of whether it's active shielding or passive resistance of the armor material, there ya go.

Also, immediately after Yoda's throw, there's a shot of Obi-Wan slashing two troopers. The uppercut to the second one appears like it might have lifted the trooper off his feet as the blade met resistance going through the armor.