Engineer Builds “World’s First Retractable Plasma-Based Lightsaber”

• James Hobson of the Hacksmith Youtube channel recently unveiled the “world’s first retractable plasma-based lightsaber.”
• Inspired by the Star wars movies, this lightsaber also changes colors when different chemicals are used.

If you’re a fan of the Star Wars movies, we’re sure you’ve been dreaming of having something like this for the longest time: a real-life lightsaber!

James Hobson of ‘The Hacksmith’ YouTube channel recently posted a video that has since captured a lot of attetion from fans of the beloved sci-fi franchise. Wearing a Jedi-style hood and holding his invention,Hobson opened his video greeting his viewers with “Hello there,” in true Obi-Wan Kenobi fashion. He then proceeded to talk about what he called as the “’world’s first plasma-based retractable lightsaber.”

Sounds pretty awesome, you say? Well you gotta see it to believe it!

This is definitely not your store-bought, battery-powered lightsaber.

A former engineer, Hobson shared that he has spent a lot of time on the project and this is his latest version.

He said:

“How the heck do you build a plasma-based lightsaber? Well, theories say that plasma is best held in a beam by a magnetic field, which, scientifically, checks out.

“The issue is producing a strong enough electro-magnetic field to contain a blade. Well, the lightsaber would have to be quite literally built inside a box coated in electromagnets, which turns it into a kind of useless science project.”

To overcome the obstacle, he uses a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel and has it strapped on his back. To achieve the superheated beam, he mixes it with oxygen.

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Today's the day!!! 4PM EST! Or become a member to see both the build and test videos right away! #starwars #lightsaber

A post shared by the Hacksmith (@thehacksmith) on Oct 8, 2020 at 7:06am PDT

It’s even possible to change the weapon’s colors by using different chemicals. For the yellow beam, he uses sodium chloride. Meanwhile, he uses boric acid for green, strontium chloride for red, and calcium chloride for amber.

Naturally, netizens couldn’t help but be impressed.

As one commenter said:

“At this point I don’t even care if its not ‘as effective as in the movies.’ It looks so cool!”

Another wrote:

“Seriously I’m glad that he is a nice guy. He literally can take over a whole country with these inventions. What’s next? In 2030 he says ‘We figured out time travel guys!!’”

Watch the video here:

To see more of their cool projects, go check them out on Hacksmith’s official YouTube and Instagram accounts.