Plasma

Plasma was naturally present in the porous crust of Naboo, a pastoral planet located near the border of the Outer Rim Territories. Both the native Gungans and the human colonists of Naboo mined plasma from their homeworld's depths. The city of Theed itself, capital of the Nabooian humans, had once hosted many plasma mines. Prior to its Invasion of Naboo, the Trade Federation had a long-running dispute with Naboo over exports of the planet's plasma.

Refined plasma was often used in technology. The blades of lightsabers, the signature weapons of the Jedi Knights, were made of pure plasmic energy. At the time of the Clone Wars, many weapons of Umbaran make, including the MHC tank and the hover tank, made use of plasma-based technologies. Thanks to its electromagnetic plasma cannon, the latter could decimate entire platoons of enemy soldiers with one blast. Plasma could also be projected over a chasm to form a drawbridge capable of sustaining the weight of people, ground vehicles, and landspeeders. The Wookiee bowcaster made use of quarrels that were charged with highly energized plasma when fired.

According to the Right of Last Appeal of the Pirate's Code, the defendant in a pirate trial was to be granted an equal allotment of speaking time as their prosecution. To mark this time, crews such as those commanded by Captain Brutus used an hourglass filled with plasma.

Text and facts from the “Plasma” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.