Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
A winner we have in our Star Wars trivia contest. The question was why the photo pictured above would be physically impossible in George Lucas' fantasy realm. Though a couple of Star Wars geeks in-house knew the answer, they couldn't participate officially. Finally, Valley-ite Mark Gallegos scored with the answer we were looking for: in the Star Wars world, Pat would not be able to lean on his lightsaber in that manner. If he did, the lightsaber would cut right through the floor beneath him.
Don't believe me? Check it:
From Wookiepedia http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsabers
Cutting power Other than emitting a colored light, a lightsaber blade was a massless form that neither radiated heat nor expended energy until it came into contact with something. The power of the energy blade was so great that it could cut through almost anything, though the speed through which it cut was dependent greatly on the density of the subject. Cleaving flesh, for instance, was a smooth and unobstructed action, while rending a hole in a blast door could take a while. One important note about lightsaber wounds is that they rarely bled profusely, even when a limb had been severed. The energy blade cauterized the wound as it passed, and thus even a severe wound did not tend to bleed heavily. When cutting through dense material, the immense electromagnetic field generated by the arc causes resistance rather than letting solid matter enter and interrupt the arc. This gives the blade a feeling of being solid when immersed in dense material. Rarely, some solid materials can actually pass through the electromagnetic field and short out the arc (see, "Resisting the lightsaber" below). Other Electromagnetic energy fields and coherent energy are also repelled by lightsabers' arcs. These include most force fields, blaster bolts, and other lightsaber blades.
Resisting the lightsaber Aside from the blade of another lightsaber, there were rare materials found throughout the galaxy that could withstand a lightsaber blade, but with varying degrees of success.
Mark says he's no Star Wars buff, he just figured it out. For doing so, he wins a $20 gift certificate to All About Books and Comics. Mark says he plans to give the gift certificate to his nephew.
Thanks to Benjamin Leatherman, a full-on Star Wars nut, for suggesting the idea.
