What would happen if you put a lightsaber blade up to a mirror? Would it burn through? Would it get reflected and end at the appropriate length? Something else entirly? Have fun.
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Priest
Naval Executive Officer
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
-----------------------
NXO/RAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-2/ISD-II Devastator/VEN/VE/(=SA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][MC:1][KC]
HM/KPT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-5/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE

Oh, and to answer the question: No, it would not burn through, for two reasons. Firstly, the diluted power theory. Secondly, the fact that mirrors are coated in a very thin layer of silver-oxide, a component which is found in battle droids. In Episode II, the droids were not damaged until the lightsaber touched them - therefore, unless the mirror itself was touched by the saber, there would be no damage. Oh, and why do I have such a big head? I got my exam results today - a C for Chemistry
 
-----------------------
        Captain Aaron "Bear" Le'pue, Naval Instructor & VE Today Chief Editor
                                                        ~~~
     INS/CAP Aaron "Bear" Le'pue/Flight School/Training Fleet/ISD II Crusader/VEN/VE
(=A=) (=SA=) (=MA=) (=FOCE=) (=JCPA=) (=SCPA=) [BRC] [BRC] [LSM] [LoC] [NDM]
                                                        ~~~
                                      Bear : [email protected]
                             Vast Empire Today : [email protected]

Considering as I understand it a lightsaber is a device which causes a beam of light to bend back in on itself, thus givin it it's cutting power, it would burn through the mirror before reflecting off of it. Next increadibly wierd Star Wars question for the guru(at least until Donitz shows up again).
 
-----------------------
RA(U) Daishi COSOS
"If we had all knowladge then why would we seek what we already know and if we had no knowladge then how could we even ask the question?"  Plato
"Indeceant exposure is fun." Sonatina
"There are at least three sides to any situation." Me

A beam of energy eh?  In that case, it would simply burn through the mirror, they don't reflect energy 
 
-----------------------
Argon Viper
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"In combat, second place is only the last to die."- Anonymous
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung
"The only thing that will never change is that everything will change" - Argon Viper

I reckon that it would burn through the mirror as it is just a beam of energy which emits light.
 
-----------------------
Second Lieutenant Corran
VE Today Deputy Editor
Proud owner of a [Gold Star for Observation]

FM/2LT Corran/Kaph 1-2/Wing I/mSSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=MA=)(=SA=) [LoC]

Thermite 3D Engine :: Thermite Forums :: Sourceforge Page :: Version 0.0.3 is out!

Light bulbs give off heat as a by-product.. Which leads me to believe.. Maybe, hundreds of years ago, when the first saber was invented.. it was invented by a bored interior-designer (probably a very very camp one) who thought "You know what would go well with these pink scatter cushions?! A beam of pure light!" so he got to work on a saber. After it was finished, it sat in the corner of his room for years lighting it up, until one day.. burglars broke in. After stealing the scatter cushions, they held a blaster to his head, about to shoot him, and, thinking fast, the interior designer grabbed his light saber, swung it round and.. sliced off the burglars head. "Phwoar!" Interior Designer Obi-Wan Kanobi said, "This could be used as a weapon!". So then, to cut a long story short, he became a Jedi. A bit far fetched, maybe
 
-----------------------
        Captain Aaron "Bear" Le'pue, Naval Instructor & VE Today Chief Editor
                                                        ~~~
     INS/CAP Aaron "Bear" Le'pue/Flight School/Training Fleet/ISD II Crusader/VEN/VE
(=A=) (=SA=) (=MA=) (=FOCE=) (=JCPA=) (=SCPA=) [BRC] [BRC] [LSM] [LoC] [NDM]
                                                        ~~~
                                      Bear : [email protected]
                             Vast Empire Today : [email protected]

ok, firsto fo all, look at lasers, those are concentrated light, so the only way to get the laser to bend back on itself would be to put a gravity well at some point relativly close to the beam. now when an interdictor cruiser is close by a fighters beams don't bend. even a low power beam like a sporting blaster isn't bent by the force of a planetary mass, even a mass the size of bespin. to pull the light back in an arc you would need a gravitational mass on par with a black hole. this would have to be at some point directly behing the emitter for the blade to remain straight. If you put a black hole in the hilt of your saber with a horizon of say 2 meters, which would create a very long blade, you would have approximatly the force of the entire Maw concentrated into something at most 10 cm in diameter. that would suck everything, incuding the user and the handle in on it, collapsing the handle and then putting the now crumpled device in your stomach the instant it was activated. I don't know if plasma can be bent, but it makes more sense for the blade to be made of plasma, and it is quite obvous plasma gives off light, look at the sun. the only plasma issue is that it also gives off heat, which lightsabers don't. It also couldn't be light on the concentration scale of a laser, because that creates ozone, and lightsabers have never been said to cause the air to change to ozone. in the novels, i know at least one reference has been made to the smell of ozone in the air after a firefight. so now we know it is neither plasma nor light. I say it is some combination of the two known only to the star wars universe. nothing ever said they have the same rules of energy and elemental tables as we do. other proof that it is pure energy of some sort, the only fuel a lightsaber uses is electricity, and the elecrticity is focused through a crystal, or series of crystals, into a beam. there is no light emitter, and maybe i'm misteaken, but if you run an electrical charge throught a crystal it doesn't emit light. This must be a beam of energy by the time it reaches the crystal, otherwise it would act as a conductor or fuse, not a lens so it is a new form of pure energy
 
-----------------------
SGM Snake
Wildcard XO
If you can stand to lose, you'll never win.

The only cannoical sources for Star Wars are the movies, novellizations and radio plays. Thus since lightsabers are seen to cast shadows in the movies, that is part of the 'reality' of Star Wars.
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Priest
Naval Executive Officer
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
-----------------------
NXO/RAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-2/ISD-II Devastator/VEN/VE/(=SA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][MC:1][KC]
HM/KPT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-3/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE

took the words right out of my mouth, Japheth. the canonical evidence shows clearly that lightsabers have shadows, therefore, they do.  light doesn't give a shadow, it creates shadows in other objects, so the lightsaber being made of light is out of the question.  A solid beam of energy is more likely due to the fact that it *could* cast a shadow. Note:  Heat is not a byproduct of light.  A lightsaber cauterizes when it cuts, due to the heat.  Therefore there is more evidence that it is not simply light.
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Riel Fury
Navy Commander In Chief
Krath Prophet(ess), Dark Lord of the Krath, Cult Member in Elite Griffen Sect
Give in to your hatred.  Give in to your anger.  Give in to the Dark Side.

Actually light can cast a shadow sometimes. Star Wars seems to actually allow for some real world physics when it will make the story seem more fantastic so here is the explanation(/me waits for Geist to pop out of the wood work):  When one source of light encounters another source of light on a different frequency some of the light of the first source is blocked out, thus causing a shadow.  The second source of light would have to be actually more powerfull then the first, so in our scenario we got a standard lighting fixture and a lightbeam powerfull enough to cut through thick solid objects in a relativly short time compared to real world lasers. Another anomally that suggests lightsabers cast light and not plasma or some sort of energy is the fact that the color of the gems used in the construction of the saber have a direct effect on the color of the blade.  This suggests that the blade is indeed light, for plasma is colored by atmospheric gases, or a type of energy that exibits light like properties. Next.   ----------------------- RA(U) Daishi COSOS "If we had all knowladge then why would we seek what we already know and if we had no knowladge then how could we even ask the question?"  Plato "Indeceant exposure is fun." Sonatina "There are at least three sides to any situation." Me

Thats a good point, is it actually the colour of the gems or the size and shape that determins the colour of the blade? The best scientific attempt at guessing what could make a lightsaber was a contained plasmoid. A field of somekind that allowed solid objects to pass through it and be destroyed by the plasma within. Then again from the films etc this cant be what they intend in Star Wars
 
-----------------------
SL/SGMTRaziel/4SQD/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/ {EW1} {WoS} {VP}
Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.

No one said a lightsaber doesn't give off heat. It does, because it cauterizes when it cuts (the one exception being in ANH, which is odd since the arm bleeds when it hits the floor, I heard some possible explanations for it).
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Riel Fury
Navy Commander In Chief
Krath Prophet(ess), Dark Lord of the Krath, Cult Member in Elite Griffen Sect
Give in to your hatred.  Give in to your anger.  Give in to the Dark Side.

mirror may reflect light, which is energy, but just because it is reflecting one type of energy it doesnt have to reflect all, say for instance electricity, it doesnt repell electricity.  So, I am guessing the lightsaber would melt it. (fyi: I wudve written more if I had time)
 
-----------------------
SM/PFC Swomz/Dread Knight 2/Storm Platoon/1Company/1Battalion/Lorn IV/VEA
Private First Class Swomz
Dread Knights Squad Member
Former FS I:A and Venom 3FL Leader

Read up. Those books are not cannonical evidence of anything at all. The only cannoical sources for Star Wars ARE: 1) The novellizations of the movies 2) The movies 3) The radioplays The other novels are PURELY expanded universe which can, and has been, stomped into little bits by anything Lucas wants to do with his movies, books, and future radioplays.
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Priest
Naval Executive Officer
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
-----------------------
NXO/RAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-2/ISD-II Devastator/VEN/VE/(=SA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][MC:1][KC]
HM/KPT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-3/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE

I think we're getting a little off topic with the book thing. Some reminders: A) If a crystal were to give off light that's only the same color as it, the overall power is reduced since only the waves of that particular color can get through. B)  A lightsaber contains Adegan crystals which GIVE OFF energy when struck with light. C) There are certain devices within the lightsaber that sort of channels the ENERGY and focuses it into a tight beam. D) A lightsaber blade is pure energy, a mirror is reflective matter. If a lightsaber blade was made of light, even concentrated, it would still get reflected. Yes, I know light is electromagnetic energy, and because of that, this all condenses into one major headache. E) Don't take a freshman's words too seriously Just my two cents
 
-----------------------
TRP/SGT D-13/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/VEA