The lightsaber is the celebrated weapon of the Jedi in Star Wars, but it’s no ordinary sword – given its intense heat means it doesn’t cause people to bleed. Lightsabers are easily one of the most exciting weapons in fiction, and their physics have been eagerly debated since 1977. People have speculated for years about how science could potentially create real lightsabers – and these theories and experiments hint at how dangerous they would be.
To truly understand the damage lightsabers can do, it’s necessary to examine how lightsabers work in Star Wars. They contain a powerful energy supply, something analogous to a blaster’s power pack, and its energy is channeled through a kyber crystal. This generates a powerful blade of plasma, an ionized, energized gas that is heated to extreme temperatures. And that is what makes lightsabers so dangerous.
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A Lightsaber Blade Is Hotter Than You Think
Because it is made of plasma, the blade of a lightsaber is heated to tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit; in fact, some Star Wars sources have indicated the average temperature is something like 20,000 degrees.. With a blade that hot, it would make easy work of materials that a normal blade wouldn’t be able to cut through. This is likely why the Jedi chose to use lightsabers. After all, as peacekeepers, they often went into dangerous and politically charged situations. They tried their best to keep out of trouble. However, sometimes they needed to break themselves and others out of dangerous places. A lightsaber, if wielded with caution, would be a great tool given its ability to cut through pretty much anything.
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Lightsaber Blades Are Hot Enough To Cauterize Any Injury
This extreme temperature explains why lightsaber blades don’t cause bleeding; lightsabers generate more than enough heat to cauterize a wound on impact. Cauterization is what happens when tissues (and by extension blood vessels) get melted by heat. This closes the wound, and it is used frequently in surgery to keep patients from bleeding too much. Because lightsabers are estimated to be in the tens of thousands of degrees, even the most serious lightsaber stabs wouldn’t bleed.
However, despite the lack of bleeding, it would still be worse to be cut with a lightsaber blade than a regular sword. While being cut with a lightsaber would eliminate the risk of excessive bleeding one would experience if cut by a generic metal sword, the heat would do far more than just cauterize the wound. Because of their extreme heat, even the lightest touch with a lightsaber would immediately cause sixth-degree burns, charring everything from fat to bone. These types of burns are almost always fatal. Clearly, lightsabers are incredibly deadly weapons, and it is probably best that they remain in the Star Wars galaxy – not in the real world.
