Science Topic

[ShellHead]

On x ray is a form of radiation an xaser would be a focused X-ray which would pretty much be a heat ray.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

Yeah got that much, but I wanted to know how it differed from regular lasers

[ShellHead]

It's a different frequency. Also X-rays must use an isotope where as a laser is focused light using mirrors.

[Lara White]

I assume you know how the light spectrum works. I don't think there are really radio wave "lasers" but the closest you'll get is tight-beam radio communications. Lasers in the visible range include your barcode scanners and your laser pointers. When you get into X-rays and gamma rays, that's where the lasers start hitting with enough power to become a weapon. The closer the frequency is to visible light, the less damage it will do.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

So a xaser would essentially be the sort of thing you see in Star Wars gunships?

[Lara White]

Er, no. Lasers are a constant beam from point A to point B. What you'd actually see is more like a laser pointer that could kill things. Think of a kid who is burning ants with a magnifying glass. That's essentially a mini-laser.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

It should be noted that radio "lasers" (RASERs, I guess) do exist - for instance, they are emitted by the planet Jupiter.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

Er, no. Lasers are a constant beam from point A to point B. What you'd actually see is more like a laser pointer that could kill things. Think of a kid who is burning ants with a magnifying glass. That's essentially a mini-laser.

I meant that sort of effect/power level. I know enough to realise the science in Star Wars is so soft you could roll it into a ball

[Lara White]

Alright, that's always good. :PBut yeah, xasers and grasers (x-ray and gamma ray lasers) are pretty much what will be used as weapons-grade lasers. Anything else...well, I suppose you could blind someone with a laser pointer but aside from that... :w:

[ShellHead]

gamma ray lasers don't even really exist outside of theory.

[Alex Humva]

Me, I particularly like the idea of microwave lasers. Form microwaves into a tight enough and powerful enough beam and you have something that will short out any electronics (EMP shielding will help but ultimately will be useless), cook your skin, and cause metal to spark. Nastiness incarnate basically, the main problem being the sheer amounts of power a lethal laser would need. There is the anti-personal crowd control microwave lasers the US military is working on though, which cause enough pain that you must step out of the way.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Gaius Alex Humvus Augustus

[Lara White]

@ ShellHead: Considering we are talking theory...@ Humva: That is true...well, partially. I recall lots of rage from certain political sections I won't name about using sound or heat weapons on people.

[ShellHead]

I believe Xray lasers have been built functionally and even weaponized, gamma ray lasers at this point are mostly math.

[Lara White]

Again, we are talking theory right now.

[ShellHead]

While in theory a focused gamma ray would use a rod of a specific type of uranium detonated in a very specific way so that it shot out in a invisible beam of intense heat so strong it could be used as a propulsion system.

[Eeko]

The other thing to remember, is that once you get to those really high-frequency lasers, you don't actually need the laser.Well focused light is cheaper and, for most purposes, just as useful.Most high-frequency lasers don't work as well because they continually collide with the atmosphere, While lower frequency light doesn't have enough energy to.

[Lara White]

That is true, although in space you don't have to worry about it colliding with anything except the target.

[Alex Humva]

So we use microwave lasers in space instead of Earth. Got it.That, or a planet with a thin atmosphere, like Mars.Huh. Martian Colonial Police using microwave lasers to deal with rebels. Sounds like a good basis for a short story.So, what do you guys think of exo-suits? DARPA swears they've almost got them down, and MIT has been churning out some pretty impressive stuff. Could revolutionize warfare, and the civilian applications are endless.

[ShellHead]

It's gonna happen soon and its going to let soldiers carry bigger guns with more ammo and armor but overal it won't be a world changing event like the machine gun was. It will make you last longer and stronger with more fire power but I don't think anything they could put on a suit like that will protect you from a shaped charge. However its really going to revolutionize life for paraplegics and such.

[Lara White]

I think that the moment someone decides to strap armor to an exo-frame we'll have limited-range mobile turrets. Once they miniaturize a power source enough to attach to the armor, it will be a very important revolution in warfare. Primarily it means that soldiers can more faster, farther, and lift heavier weapons and more gear. It will also mean that they'll be able to integrate situational awareness computers into the armor, since the current problem with a computerized battlefield is that the soldiers have to carry the computer with them and it's not hands free. Powered armor will give them a HUD to use.

[ShellHead]

Right but that just means you'll be able to use less troops to do more in some situations. This will be about as big a revolution as helicopters were, it will give you a highly mobile highly intelligent weapons platform but it won't suddenly become a trump card like tanks or the machine gun did when first invented. Another big issue no one talks about is fire, If I can catch someone in a suit like this on fire they're going to have a bad time. Theres no way to completely heat proof it or seal it and still have them remain mobile

[Lara White]

No, but you can make it fire-resistant, and addition of a blast panel-esque system wouldn't surprise me.

[ShellHead]

You're going to have to have some form of opening in the armor in order the person inside to move. These openings will have to be fairly large if you want the person to be able to move flexibly. If you completely seal the suite in a fireproof yet flexible and safe substance you'd have to provide air to the person inside and somehow cool both the person and the electronics from their own heat and the potential fire. Modern tanks with five inch thick armor and reactive plating have been disabled by simple Molotov cocktails.With this kind of thing you can pick two of the following; Strength, flexibility, or simplicity. You can Strength and simplicity but then it'd be basically a motorized suit of armor. You can have flexibility and strength but then you'll have something too complex to be battle field worthy. You can have flexibility and simplicity but then you'd have an improved version of our current body armor.This level of protection is not an easily done task and may not be possible or even needed. A helmet doesn't protect you all the time from high powered rifles. It would be nice if it did but various factors prevent it from doing so but just because it isn't indestructible doesn't mean we don't use them.

Edited March 30, 2012 by ShellHead

[Lara White]

I never sasid it would be invincible, nor that it would cover all the options at the same time. I've pretty much been working off of the assumption that different types of armor would be developed, such as scout or assault armor.

[ShellHead]

Scout armor goes against the idea of being a scout. You want to be light fast and quiet and throwing a machine into the mix makes you louder, clumsier, larger, and dependent on fuel. You may see LAR versions of the suit but scouting will always be preformed with the minimal amount of machinery.All armor will be assault armor and their will be different verities of it but this will not be a world changing invention because modern armies are already well suited to deal with armor.

Edited March 30, 2012 by ShellHead

[Legolover-361]

My apologies if this has been asked before, but what do you all think of space travel? Will we humans ever decide to seriously spread across the solar system and beyond, or do you think we'll end up advancing in jumps and leaps due to war?I have a bad feeling that I won't live to see lunar bases. Considering today we have cell phones more powerful than the computers in the first rockets, we ought to be able to colonize the moon without too much trouble.

[ShellHead]

You do realize what you're saying right? The only issue is getting the absolutely massive amount of material into space and on the moon successfully. If we invented an easier way to get into space we could do it.

[Lara White]

Scout armor goes against the idea of being a scout. You want to be light fast and quiet and throwing a machine into the mix makes you louder, clumsier, larger, and dependent on fuel. You may see LAR versions of the suit but scouting will always be preformed with the minimal amount of machinery.All armor will be assault armor and their will be different verities of it but this will not be a world changing invention because modern armies are already well suited to deal with armor.

I don't think you understand the idea I was going for. Scout armor would be highly flexible, likely have a smaller profile, and be focused on speed and agility. Assault armor would be more like the walking tank you seem to conceive powered armor of being.@ LL: It's so ingrained in our culture that space expansion is all but inevitable.

[shadow pridak money gang]

Since I don't know where else to post this...Project Glass has me thoroughly stoked.-Teezy

[Alex Humva]

Mech suits; militarily it'll be cool, but I'm really looking at the civvie options here. Imagine exosuits costing about the same as a car, which is to say wildly varying but generally somewhere between $10-50k. I know some of the hydraulic suits the guys at MIT have cooked up can get going about twenty miles an hour, and they require little to know powersources besides the human body. You still need to be in shape -hydraulics are magic after all-, but from what I understand of the subject someone who was in shape could get going twenty miles an hour for the same amount of effort as jogging.Even without the oh-so-amazing hydraulic suits, other suits would still be pretty awesome. In general, think of it this way; old and disabled people can walk around with not as nearly as much effort, some people could replace their cars with a proper suit (note SOME PEOPLE), and construction workers would be massively benefited, as well as any other tough job, like lumberjacks or mechanics.Probably not world changing, but it'd be amazing when it did happen.Space~It's only a matter of time really; the Japanese want to build a space elevator by 2050, mass drivers could be used for transporting building materials to orbiting platforms, and so forth. I doubt we'll be doing it any time soon, but we'll get there, eventually.Glasses~It's a good step forward. It'll be awesome, but I'm holding out for the full sunglass style HUDs, that way I can go all JC Denton on people. I already have the trenchcoat for it.

[shadow pridak money gang]

A contact lens with that kind of technology would make it impossible for me to ever learn in school again. I'd be constantly tweeting.Oh, and Google X (the division of Google working on Project Glass) is apparently working on a space elevator. So it could be much closer than 2050.-Teezy

Edited April 5, 2012 by Tyler Durden

[Alex Humva]

Like **** it will. Ignoring my gratuitous cursing, the scientific and engineering problems present simply cannot be overcome yet. Not to mention, the sheer cost would bankrupt Google several times over. I love the fact that Google is working on it, and it indeed probably will speed up the process, but I just cannot see a space elevator being built before 2030, in my most optimistic of opinions.But hey, I could be wrong. The corporations might team up and build a space elevator by 2020 because scientists make a bunch of break throughs. That'd be awesome. I just don't see it happening, though.Me, personally, I'm far more interested in Google's space plane program. If they can get a plane that'll just fly right out of the atmosphere by slowly speeding up, then while you wouldn't be able to do that much cargo you would be able to do passengers. Combine space passenger planes with mass drivers shooting raw building materials up into orbit, then have expensive rockets to get the start of a space station, and you could begin building a pretty awesome space station for substantially less money.