Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/14/man-builds-a-retractable-plasma-lightsaber-powered-by-propane.html
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Yeah, these guys do awesome work and it was a really cool build but I was just a little annoyed that they kept referring to it as a real plasma blade. Probably they meant “plasma” in scare quotes, but it wasn’t clear in their description. My boys watched the video before me and came to me excitedly telling me that someone had built a REAL plasma saber. I said that sounded unlikely but they insisted that the video guys said it was real plasma, and sure enough, the guy pretty much did say that.
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Jedi have to wheel around a portable propane tank to power a glorified rosebud torch tip like an old man wheeling around an oxygen tank to breath? Not a good look warriors.
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Not in the vacuum of outer space. Propane don’t burn in space.
Still a kickass project.
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Hey, the Ghostbusters managed to fight undead phantoms while wearing glorified leaf blowers on their backs. It’s all about having the confidence to pull off the look.
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I believe the technical term is “unlicensed particle nuclear accelerator.” 
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(I am going to suggest to the leaf blower gangs that come thru here that this is how they should dress for the rest of the month!)
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I believe they also included an O2 tank in the assembly, similar to an oxy-acetylene setup.
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Ah, I’ll have to watch the whole thing next weekend when I have time. That is pretty awesome.
ETA: Yep, you’re correct. I want to buy stock in their ophthalmologist.
they did clarify that it is a PROTO-saber, which is canon, and those looked to have an external pack too. we just need to discover Kyber crystals and develop force powers, i guess. one step closer! haha
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Maybe they should have used dilithium crystals. /s
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“Man”? I counted at least four guys working on this project. Not cool to dismiss the collective efforts of the whole team.
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mmmmm Propane…
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I watched this with excitement and growing disapointment. While it is a very, very cool torch… one of the fundamental properties of a lightsaber is the ability to parry a blow from a similarly equipped foe…
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How is a plasma-based weapon supposed to maintain such high rigidity anyway?
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Okay, needed to make sure this was posted.
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Well, if the fire is hot enough, the flame would be partially ionized, which is enough to technically call it plasma, though almost always a low-level one where normal gas behavior dominates the neat electrodynamic effects seen in fully-ionized plasmas.
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I guess it’s up to the Hacksmith team to defend their plasma claim by devising a method to generate an electromagnetic field and measure the Debye length to confirm one way or the other!
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