Vrummm FVISH!
That’s the sound a lightsaber makes. Lightsabers are glowing, sword-like weapons. They come from the Star Wars movies. A Russian YouTuber named Alex Burkan set out to make his own. And he broke a Guinness world record in the process!
Burkan created the world’s first lightsaber. It can produce a 3.28-foot-long (1-m) blade. The user has to be very careful though. The torch can reach 5,072°F (2,800°C). It can even cut through steel!
“All my life I was a great Star Wars fan,” Burkan said. “The lightsaber was my most-wanted gadget.”
Following this dream was not easy. “The building process was a challenge,” Burkan said. For years, the YouTuber collected spare parts. He got them from internet sales and scrap yards.
“The key component of my lightsaber is an electrolyzer,” Burkan explained. This device turns water into fuel. Burkan also uses an electrolyzer for his motorcycle’s engine! The inventor performed hundreds of tests. He wanted his electrolyzer to form the plasma into the right shape and length for his lightsaber.
“Finally, the most challenging job was to squeeze the whole gas system in a lightsaber handle.” At last, Burkan was successful! “The most awesome thing this gadget can do is give you a true feeling of a real lightsaber in your hand,” he shared.
Another YouTuber made a lightsaber too. James Hobson from Canada started the group Hacksmith Industries. The group takes ideas and makes them real. It got its own record for the world’s first retractable proto-lightsaber in 2020. Hobson’s lightsaber is different. It runs on a fuel tank attached as a backpack.
“Isn’t it cool that two guys dream about one thing that doesn’t even exist?” Burkan wondered. Now, he and Hobson chat about their upcoming projects.
“Things and ideas that unite people all over the world are awesome.”
Updated February 16, 2022, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Alexa Tirapelli
