Power output of a lightsaber

[Nonamer]

Just as a passing thought, how powerful is a lightsaber? In terms of Watts that is.

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

Wouldn't it be more important to determine what the blade is and how it works. Also you can't know how powerful the blade is simply based on it's effectiveness at cutting through objects, since it isn't like anything in the real universe.

[Mike DiCenso]

The lightsabre is an interesting dilemma. The OT version of the lightsabre had it cutting through objects (and people) with little or no burning or other DET-like effects. Then comes the PT, and suddenly lightsabres are melting Trade Federation blast doors, and leaving glowing trails on people and objects alike.

The odd thing about the TPM door melting scene is that Qui-Gon isn't turned into a screaming torch by the heat being generated from either the lightsabre, or the door itself, nor are any of the Nemodians suffering similar effects from the heating. I have to ask if the lightsabres really damage things with DET, or are they doing something else, or a combination of the two?
-Mike

[Jedi Master Spock]

I believe I quantify lightsabers as megawatt range weapons somewhere on the main site, with possibly gigajoule-range energy cells. We're talking roughly 1-10 MW peak outputs, which explains Luke's puzzlement in ANH on first encountering a lightsaber:

"Whatever the thing was, it required a great deal of energy, according to the rating form of the cell." (p65)

I see I should render this analysis more accessible - it's briefly mentioned here, but should probably be doubled in the Weapons sections.

They're fairly powerful - far more than blasters, all things considered.

[Nonamer]

A couple of other things to consider:

Does a lightsaber give a physical force on contact? I would think so since Yoda threw one at a Clonetrooper with one add it didn't fall off after stabbing the trooper.

Does the power output of a lightsaber vary depending on what it's cutting or force applied? Since it doesn't ignite clothing or hair but can cut metal implies that it must have a variable power output, possibly even varying from different points on the blade.

PS: I really dislike phpBB; the edit function sucks.

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

I always thought that lightsabers used some sort of force field or Trek like shield (in TOS they are call deflector screens). A blade of pure energy, like Obi Wan describes, wouldn't reflect projectiles back. The shield/ force field concept might explain the ability to cut through just about everything. It doesn't explain TPM door melting incident though, or the PT burn marks.

[Mike DiCenso]

Lightsabres are an oddity, to say the least. Re-watching the begining of TPM, I noticed that Qui-Gon seems to have to push the energy blade into the blast door metal as though encountering some kind of resistance, and at the same time twist around the handle of the lightsabre.

As for the lightsabres having shields; that is an interesting idea, unfortunately not supported by anything in the Trilogies, or the novelizations. Certainly if lightsabres had special shields, then the Jedi would employ them more often, as such a thing would extremely useful in combat. Also, the Nemodians did not seem to be effected either (except being really scared) as the "melting" effect spread to the other side of the blast doors. If the ability to withstand heat is some weird Jedi power, then why didn't Luke, who was not yet trained when he picked up his father's lightsabre for the first time, burned or reacted to the heat the thing should be outputting? Why didn't Han, who most certainly doesn't have a midiclorian count worth noting get singed or react to any heat from the Luke's lightsabre's blade when he switched it on to cut open the dead tauntaun? Why didn't the tauntaun's flesh burn or glow as the CIS leaders' clothing and flesh did in RoTS when Anakin assassinated them using the same weapon?

If there are power output settings for lightsabres, then why are they never mentioned in the true canon of the movies? So many inconsistancies here. Perhaps lightsabres do require lots of power to do whatever it is they do, but it cannot be normal, straight up DET or Han and Chewie would have started noticing the heating of the air in the Falcon's cargo hold by Luke's lightsabre while he was practicing. Also, as has been mentioned here already, there is the matter of how lightsabres act as physical objects when contacting each other, something they shouldn't do normally if they were pure energy.
-Mike

[Jedi Master Spock]

I think the suggestion is that lightsabers are shields, or at least shaped force fields. It makes some sense.

"Strangely, Luke felt no heat from it, although he was very careful not to touch it. He knew what a lightsaber could do, though he had never seen one before. It could drill a hole right through the rock wall of Kenobi's cave - or a human being."

It's pretty clear that lightsabers are not supposed to radiate heat just by being on - just (sometimes) the objects they cut. There are a few inconsistencies in how they are portrayed, of course.

[Mike DiCenso]

I'am familiar with the ANH novelization quote you provided, but it still doesn't explain away the lack of noticeable heating effects when lightsabres have contacted and melted or caused glowing effects to various materials. The blast door "melting" is still a real conundrum, no matter how you look at it.
-Mike

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

Perhaps the blade does something to the matter it comes in contact with, and the damage is a reaction or a byproduct of that process. This would explain why it reacts differently on different materials, like a phaser. I know it's not a very well rounded idea, but it could explain some of the oddities. And Jedi Master Spock was right, my previous idea was that the blade of the lightsaber is some sort of shield or the like. Though a fencing foil like hand guard shield would be useful. As for what I posit lacking canon evidence, as far as I know the only dialog on the matter comes from Kenobi saying the blade is pure energy, which contradicts the way it acts.

[Mike DiCenso]

Oh no, now you've done it. To try and propose that any weapon in Star Wars is anything other than DET, you'll have the wrath of the Warsies apon us for sure.

Yes, it is quite possible that lightsabres use a lot of power to do whatever it is that makes what we see happen. But whether or not that is material dependent, or if it involves some kind of non-DET reaction that won't kill or injure the user of the lightsabre in the process, is another matter altogether. I think that to explain what we see in the PT, some lightsabres perhaps do have the ability to disassociate matter when the cut through matter, the beam being held in check by a force field, which is what creates the "energy blade", and that is why when lightsabre blades come in contact with each other, they act like solid objects.

Of course this doesn't explain away everything, but it is a step towards understanding these unusual weapons.
-Mike

[Jedi Master Spock]

I'am familiar with the ANH novelization quote you provided, but it still doesn't explain away the lack of noticeable heating effects when lightsabres have contacted and melted or caused glowing effects to various materials. The blast door "melting" is still a real conundrum, no matter how you look at it.
-Mike

I view this as carelessness common in cinema. It's pretty common to see - in Star Trek, Star Wars, disaster movies involving volcanos, cheap "epic" fantasy films, etc - neglect of area heating effects. "Hey, cool, look at this melting rock!" "Hey, let's vaporize this person with a laser!"

IMO, that's one of the things we should try to ignore if we're going to pretend that physics works similarly in movies.

[Mike DiCenso]

If we start going down that route, then we can make up any excuses we want, as long as it sounds good. That means there's no evidence and no standards of which to apply them.

Yes, it is dramatic license that Qui-Gon does not get cooked by his own lightsabre's melting of the blast door in TPM, but in terms of trying to explain these things, we can't overlook them. Otherwise dozens of similar things in Trek are now ignored, too.
-Mike

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

I was wondering, why is the power output of a lightsaber important? We know what it does, but there is no existing theory that I am aware of that explains the mechanism behind the lightsaber. So does it really matter whether a lightsaber runs on a hypermatter annihilation reactor or a AAA battery, it doesn't change what we see a lightsaber do.

[Mike DiCenso]

Well, the ability of the lightsabre power source is important with regards to how much energy the mechanism it operates by requires. Some would also use it as an argument for DET, not CR, as well, ect.
-Mike