>A lightsaber is a handmade technological weapon which generates a
>tightly focused plasma bottle in a magnetic field. The blade can
>generate heat within the magnetic field in excess of 2,000 degrees
>Centigrade, but the magnetic bottle protects the wielder from the
>heat. The weapon can cut through virtually any known substance, given
>enough time, although the cuts are nly clean in the sense that they
>are usually cauterized.

If the plasma and generated heat is contained within a magnetic field, how does it interact with the target (blast door, thug-in-bar's arm, etc)? If the magnetic field is strong and stable, you've basically got a big, glowing stick. Excellent for guiding traffic and/or landing planes, not too good for making holes in baddies. As noted elsewhere in the thread, canon SW gets around this by basically being space opera-- there's an 'explanation', but not terribly realistic, much less plausible.

On a separate but related note-- does Redneck's generated beamstaff work on similar principles? Or is it just (to steal a phrase) a "visible aura manifestation", pure shaped energy?

Dan Brandon
---------
"It's much too early for this to be a funny" .sig