Why could jedi's light saber block laser shooting?

Question

And resist and block each other? Doesn't later have a velosity of light? If the jedis can block off whatever laster beam they want to at will by their waving saders, aren't they moving with velosity of light? Is that just a joke or does that have any theoretical foundation?

Answer 1

My theory is that the blaster bolts and light sabers are not light, but some kind of plasma discharge.  That's why they come out looking like little sausages instead of beams of light.  Since plasma has a charge, the light sabers must have a similar but stronger charge than the blaster bolts, thus deflecting them.

Answer 2

Keep in mind that this occurred a long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away.  The laws of physics must be different, because we can clearly see the pulse of light speeding towards its Jedi target and then back to the unfortunate stormtrooper.

There's no law of physics that says you can't change the direction of light; that would be a mirror.

Answer 3

Because it's a movie! They can do whatever they want.

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Answer 4

According to the Star Wars canon, lightsabers are not laser weapons. Depending on what source you read, they are either a tightly-focused "loop" of energy, or a beam of plasma (ionized gas) contained within a magnetic field. Indeed, Nelson Shin, the effects designer who put together the original lightsaber effects, used the sound of a degausser (a device that produces a powerful electromagnetic field) as part of the sound effects for the blade. The plasma idea extends to many of the weapons in the Star Wars universe - the "blasters" we see in the movies don't shoot a continuous beam like a laser, but distinct "bolts" of energy that move well below light speed. It's not a big logical leap to imagine the magnetic field of lightsabers can deflect the charged plasma bolts from blasters, as well as block and repel other lightsaber blades.

Of course, a lot of this technical information is retconned - when you're setting out to make a blockbuster sci-fi action flick, adhering to feasible real-world physics is not necessarily top of the list of priorities, over making something that looks cool!

Answer 5

Because they are not light.  Both light sabers and bolts from blasters are more like concentrated stream of plasma.  In light sabers, the plasma is so highly concentrated it behaves like solid.  Blasters also fire short burst of concentrated plasma but not as concentrated as the light sabers.  Laser, in your understanding (mine too), would have been a continuous straight line from the gun to the target ,right?.  In the movies we see many short bursts indicating that it is not truly laser.  Since Plasma on light sabers are more concentrated, it can block plasma bursts from blaster, in combination with Jedi's lightning fast reflexes.  Hope this helps, and if my understanding is wrong, please someone correct me.