As far as cool sci-fi weapons go, lightsabers are pretty high up there. I mean, who didn’t watch Star Wars growing up and immediately want one of their own? They’re powerful, precise, awesome. In the movies, lightsabers cut cleanly through anything from blast doors to body parts. There’s no blood, just instantly cauterized wounds, which seems…pretty alright, all things considered. You can’t bleed out. In reality, death by lightsaber would be infinitely so, so much worse. Because a lightsaber doesn’t just stop at the surface, it vaporizes your organs from the inside out. Let’s dive into the physics behind why being stabbed by a lightsaber would actually be the worst thing ever.
What is a Lightsaber, Really?
To understand how awful it would be to be killed by a lightsaber, we must first understand what one actually is. As the video above explains, a lightsaber is a streamlined blade of contained plasma nearly four times hotter than the sun. The temperature of the blade is around 20,000 degrees Celsius. For reference, the surface of the sun is only about 5,500 degrees Celsius (still VERY hot). So if a blade of that capacity were to be plunged through your body? ‘Tis not just a flesh wound.
What Would Actually Happen if a Lightsaber Were to Stab You (Because physics says so…)
Finn, Kylo Ren, Anakin, and Darth Maul (who was literally cut in half) all survive after sustaining what should be catastrophic injuries by lightsabers. Han Solo survives with a lightsaber through his body for an entire 15 seconds. If we were to apply the actual physics behind it…yeah, no chance anyone’s walking away from that. Let’s break it down this way (and warning, I’m sparing no details here): Typical stab wounds, like from a knife, pierce through tissue and cause bleeding. Lightsabers, however, don’t cut. They incinerate.
Let’s say a lightsaber were to be plunged through your body. Instead of causing bleeding, the hot blade vaporizes your tissue from within almost instantly. Heat radiates through you; the blade easily breaks down your tissue, bones, organs; smoke and the smell of burned flesh are expelled from your body. Not a pretty picture. And that’s all in roughly half a second, before the pain receptors in your body can even process what’s happening. After another second or two, your heart beat falters, your lungs stop working, and your body starts shutting down. Next thing you know, you’re dead. It sounds terrible, and that’s because it seriously would be.
Ironically, we have actually explored this very concept before—right here on Nerdist eight years ago. OG fans of our site may remember this cool little series we used to do (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill). The video below touches on some of the same terrifying details. But Kyle goes one step further. Given how hot a Lightsaber is, coming into contact with one might actually cause your body to explode, just like a water bottle being thrown into a pot of boiling water.
(Go watch Kyle’s channel, by the way!)
Why Death by Lightsaber Would Be Much Worse in Real Life
So if death by lightsaber is as bad as it should be, how can so many Jedi survive it? Plot armor, the Force, sci-fi BS? Idk. Those are the movies. But we’re nerds, so screw the movies. We want science. Assuming that Lightsabers actually hold the same power and capabilities as they claim to, being stabbed by one would be a fate far worse than you can imagine. You’d be incinerated from the inside out in seconds. Or explode almost instantly. Human flambé. Owning a lightsaber doesn’t seem quite as appealing now, does it? Sorry to crush your dreams.