The difference between lasers and blasters

What is the difference between a blaster rifle and a laser rifle, for example?

They all use blaster gas (plasma), right?
And for bigger weapons, like cannons on ships, do they fire another type of bolts?

 

I guess laser is the technical term, but many people in the SW universe consider 'blasters' to sound cooler/deadlier.

 

Well, maybe it is so.
The main reason i`m wondering is the facts in the "Visual dictionary", where some weapons are named "lasers" and others "blasters".

 

Lasers are devices which use a photonic beam generator to combine coherent energy into packets that can be aimed at a target. Upon striking the target, the packets split the target's molecular structure to varying degrees, based on the strength of the packets emitted. The packets can be generated to lightly stun a target or completely vaporize it.



Blaster is a common name given to any hand-held laser weapon. They come in all shapes and sizes, from small holdout weapons to heavy repeating rifles. They most often employ a small power pack consisting of a ionized cryogenic cells. The power packs generate coherent packets of light, much like a ship-mounted laser. They can be set to various power outputs, from stun to vaporation.





There you have it. Lasers are a generic catagory that is commonly used to refer to ship-mounted weapons and larger weaponry, while Blasters are more of a personal, "hand-held" version of a laser weapon.







Ken Kenobi- And you have a Happy Valentine's Day

 

My Explanation

The green continious beam coming from the Gunship is a Laser also the Blue beam that takes down the Trade Federation ship and The Death Star Ray are also Lasers.

All the other weapons fire Plasma Bolts some sort of Compressed gas. Even if some of the larger weapons are called Turbo Lasers? They are not lasers.

From my understanding.
Info taken from the Visual Dictionary
Though the AOTC VD does say the the laser dish on one vehicle is a crew hatch?

 

There are no lasers at all in any of the Star Wars movies. A laser travels at the speed of light; all of the "laser" beams seen in the films go much, much slower. Therefore, they are not lasers.

 

Actually, according to the Star Wars Official Site, laser batteries and laser cannons are used in the Star Wars Universe, following the categorization I explained in my above post.





Ken Kenobi- And you have a Happy Valentine's Day

 

They're called lasers, but they aren't really lasers.

The brightly colored beams we see in the films are actually plasma.

 

Exactly, which is, again, pointing to my original post here as to how the weapon charges are classified.





Ken Kenobi- And you have a Happy Valentine's Day

 

I think we're talking Star Wars Physics again.

 

yes, we propably are.
1:Blasters fire Plasma.

2:All hand-held weapons are called blasters,
although rifles and carbines are sometimes called "lasers".

3:Even though they are called "lasers"
they still fire blaster gas.


Laser=plasma?