These 'Star Wars' experts gave an incredibly simple explanation on how lightsabers work

Disney/Lucasfilm

For over 40 years, "Star Wars" fans have marveled at the lightsaber. It's a weapon that seems to defy science, with a blade of lasers shooting out, but not infinitely, from a hilt.

At San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, a group of scientists, writers, and "Star Wars" experts offered an incredibly simple definition of how the lightsaber works.

"It's a laser that shoots out from something and is pulled back in, so it's like a ... a doughnut that's stretched out," explains Eliot Sirota, a digital artist with over 20 years of 3D modeling experience.

The laser is contained in a force field of sorts, possibly by opposing magnetic fields on each end of the lightsaber.   

While using a lightsaber may be as easy as turning it on, fight choreographer Steve Huff says it takes a lot more to wield a lightsaber with the skill of a Jedi.

Disney/Lucasfilm

"The thing about the Force is, you don't have to have the Force to be able to use it," Huff says. "You have to master the Force in order to be able to use it to its full ability."

That's why in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn can cut through a blast door aboard a Trade Federation Ship without generating so much heat that he burns himself, Huff explains.

The group joked that, with such a sound understanding of how lightsabers work, we should expect to see them on Kickstarter soon.

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