Lightsabers. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. These plasma-swords are capable of being extremely lightweight and mobile, yet also capable of being the most dangerous weapon in the Star Wars universe, burning through plaster, metal, and flesh! But of course, it's not real... A lightsaber works by containing plasma, which is produced by this little stick underneath the lightsaber. But back to plasma. Plasma, also known as the fourth matter is produced by stripping a gas's atoms from their electrons, also known as the process of ionization. The glow of a florescent light is plasma, as well as neon lights. But because the density of the gas in a fluorescent light tube is so low, even though the temperature is high, the total amount of heat energy is very low. An added complexity is that the electrons in the plasma have a much higher energy than the ionized atoms from which the electrons originated. For example, the heat energy in a cup of coffee (which has a much lower temperature) is much higher than the energy stored in a fluorescent light. It would be nearly impossible to create a mechanism that could create contained plasma with a strong enough heat energy level, and temperature to burn through any material, except for itself.