Blade weight

[Taegin Roan]

This question may have been asked some other time, but I did not see an answer to it when I searched for it.

Do lightsaber blades in the SW canon have any weight? Because if they do not, then the hilt has to be balanced differently than if it did have weight. Since the blade is just a laser, I would assume not. But there is nothing in the movies at least that says that they do or do not have weight.

[Lord Bladewraith]

I would think there wouldn't necessarily be any weight to a real lightsaber blade, but I do think that there is... and excuse the pun... some "force feedback" similar to how it feels to hold a fire hose with lots of water pressure, albeit at a fraction of that pushback, especially with a little kick when you ignite it, as well as the feeling of the pulsating blade.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

This has been brought up before. I had a thread about anything physics of lightsabers.
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=30739.0

In Shatterpoint, an EU book about Windu, the blade is stated as "weightless".

I see references to gyroscopic effect, weightless blades with fast building momentum and variations of those ideas eluding to the danger for an unskilled attempting to fight with it. Cutting or lightly sweeping as we see in film is different than battle. But, I don't see specific reference to stories these ideas come from.

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter states the phrase "frictionless edge of a lightsaber."

In Book of Sith, Quinlan Vos states that lightsabers should have hand guards.

My real life experience tells me that gravity pulls the blade down in a way that helps me spin it. I like the center of gravity to be in the blade, not the hilt. Put two sabers together, and the staff seems to spin slower. It helps me to hold one hilt so the center of gravity is shifted to help pull that way. The actors will be dealing with the same forces. The characters may be dealing with gravity affecting an empty hilt, but the field emitted causes some kinetic disturbance on the blade. Once the blade starts moving, it may be hard to stop. Han can slowly cut open a Tauntaun, but spinning may be dangerous for him. Finn has weapons training. Rey has staff experience, and the director has a crush on her...I mean, she has the Force.

[Taegin Roan]

This has been brought up before. I had a thread about anything physics of lightsabers.
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=30739.0

In Shatterpoint, an EU book about Windu, the blade is stated as "weightless".

My real life experience tells me that gravity pulls the blade down in a way that helps me spin it. I like the center of gravity to be in the blade, not the hilt. Put two sabers together, and the staff seems to spin slower. It helps me to hold one hilt so the center of gravity is shifted to help pull that way. The actors will be dealing with the same forces. The characters may be dealing with gravity affecting an empty hilt, but the field emitted causes the some kinetic disturbance on the blade. Once the blade starts moving, it may be hard to stop. Han can slowly cut open a Tauntaun, but spinning may be dangerous for him.

I see.

Finn has weapons training. Rey has staff experience, and the *director has a crush on her...I mean, she has the Force.

Doesn't everybody?

[ithekro]

Not sure about on Rey, but Daisy?  Sure thing.  Her smile is infectious.

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

Not sure about on Rey, but Daisy?  Sure thing.  Her smile is infectious.

No, her smile is infectious.

[Benji]

I always had thought that a lightsaber blade had been established as actually being made of plasma. And therefore it has some weight if it were to actually be measurable. Thing is that it's so little weight it's barely detectable. Is this accurate?

[Obese Wan Kenobese]

I always had thought that a lightsaber blade had been established as actually being made of plasma. And therefore it has some weight if it were to actually be measurable. Thing is that it's so little weight it's barely detectable. Is this accurate?

Sources I've read described the same energy as a blaster focused through a lightsaber crystal, retained inside a field and recycled continuously. The field bounces blaster bolts away as well as makes the 'impact' of saber on saber dueling. New canon may change things. I'm not sure plasma in the story is the same as plasma in real physics anyway, whether by writer's lack of education or freedom of fictional technology.