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I was reading another question and started to wonder what the dimensions of a blaster bolt are.

Usually in universe when we see a bolt fired it appears as a cynlinder with some length L.

Take this bolt for example: (imagine it's being fired parallel to your screen, so you are looking at it from the side):

enter image description here

Is the length of this ex. the actual length or just the apparent length due to the fact it is travelling very fast?

If this is not it's actual length but the apparent length due to relativity, would a blaster bolt actually just be a sphere?

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    Blaster bolts are plasma beams so they don't travel at the speed of light. scifi.stackexchange.com/a/102909/31936
    – Null ♦
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 22:06
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    @Hatandboots - Pretty much every analysis of blaster bolts reveals that they're traveling very much slower than bullets.
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 22:10
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    As Richard said, some analyses of the footage shows that blaster bolts move at a speed slower than a major league baseball pitch - about 80 mph on the low end; Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame puts it at 130 mph on the high end. Everyone agrees that the bolts are far slower than the speed of light, or even sound.
    – Wad Cheber
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 22:15
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    "due to the fact it is travelling very fast" only makes sense if we know how fast it is, so determining speed is essential to answering your question.
    – Mołot
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 22:26
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    Through use of the speed of a bolt, we can get an estimated length by timing it and dividing the scale distance traveled. So... someone do that.
    – user40790
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 1:33

2 Answers 2

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"When the blaster was fired, a small amount of gas moved from the cartridge" -http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster

So if it's excited gas, the longer it's traveling after being excited, it will lose energy and dissipate, where the outer layers of gas would cool faster than the inner layers (the surface area is more exposed, so it cools faster). Thus, the more elongated it will be the longer it travels, which means it would be constantly changing dimensions.

As an aside, was it my question that got you thinking about this?

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  • It sure was, you were talking about contacting the midpoint of the bolt, or gas cylinder thing, and I wasn't sure if that would even be possible. I didn't really realize it was a chunk of gas rather than fast moving light or something rather.
    – user45549
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:49
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    I haven't received a good answer on mine either. I fear we're thinking too hard.
    – Nate
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 20:11
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Force Awakens Spoiler:

In the raid on the village we see Kylo freeze a blaster bolt in mid-flight where it appears to have real fixed dimensions.

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    I don't suppose anyone can get a screen grab of it eh?
    – user45549
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 9:33

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