Canadian YouTuber James Hobson, known as the Hacksmith, has created the world’s first functioning and retractable lightsaber.
A popular YouTuber has created the first functioning lightsaber, using propane gas burning at around 4,000°C to create a retractable plasma beam.
Inspired by a love of Star Wars, he has previously made various lightsabers, but wanted to produce ‘the world’s first, retractable, plasma-based’ version.
For this, the internet-famous engineers used liquid petroleum gas, a fuel tucked away in many sheds and often used to power barbecues.
This is stored in a custom-built backpack, and travels to the device along a tube, making the build more akin to an early-generation ‘proto-saber’ than the weapons wielded by Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Those backpack-free designs are currently beyond the reach of our technology, as they would require D-sized batteries capable of churning out more power than a nuclear power plant, Mr Hobson says.
Wow, just wow — unfortunately, it might be a while before these become mainstream.
