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sci-fi weapons and focal points

athon

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For the physicists here:

I'm picturing a sci-fi weapon - it uses a wavelength of light that can pass through skin, but if it uses a focal point beneath the flesh it will concentrate at a point and cause burns.

I'm researching for a friend who wants to write a short story using a concept like this. Is this a conceivable concept? Could you focus a laser beneath skin and burn, say, bone or muscle and leave little to no sign on the surface?

Athon
 
Hmm, interesting, but I'd think that to have a beam focused inside the body, and not so focused at the skin that it would burn there, would need a huge and very accurate transmitter (that's just layman's guesswork).

There is/was a technique for dealing with brain tumours called Stereotaxia - they'd fire radio waves from multiple sources at the tumour. A single radio source wouldn't do any damage, and would pass through the rest of the brain, but where all the sources lined up it would destroy the tumour.

David
 
Ooooh ooh, sounds like in Dr Who, the (I think) disruptor beam?

"Doctor, he looks okay"
"Hmm, disruptor beam - insides are a mess"

It may or may not have been a device to avoid having to fork out for expensive 'horrific injuries' make-up on a tiny budget, but I remember thinking "cool!" (in a non-serial killer way, of course).
 
Are you thinking of Remembrance of the Daleks? Young squaddie gets in the line of fire and *zblat*, gets hit by a bolt of blue light, throwing him backwards and momentarily revealing his skeleton. It was one of the best effects they ever had on that show (another being the floating coffin in a later episode of that story).

I think the technical word used by the Doctor was "scrambled" :D

David
 
davidhorman said:
Are you thinking of Remembrance of the Daleks? Young squaddie gets in the line of fire and *zblat*, gets hit by a bolt of blue light, throwing him backwards and momentarily revealing his skeleton. It was one of the best effects they ever had on that show (another being the floating coffin in a later episode of that story).

I think the technical word used by the Doctor was "scrambled" :D

David
Click to expand...
Yes! I think it was! Was that Sylvester McCoy?
 
Yes! I think it was! Was that Sylvester McCoy?
Click to expand...

Yup - and I met him a couple of weeks ago and got his autograph :D

I'm remembering more of that scene now.. he has a quick feel around the squaddie and pronounces the cause of death as "massive internal displacement", if i remember correctly. And that squaddie was already dead, it was a second later that buys it on screen.

David
 
athon said:
For the physicists here:

I'm picturing a sci-fi weapon - it uses a wavelength of light that can pass through skin, but if it uses a focal point beneath the flesh it will concentrate at a point and cause burns.

I'm researching for a friend who wants to write a short story using a concept like this. Is this a conceivable concept? Could you focus a laser beneath skin and burn, say, bone or muscle and leave little to no sign on the surface?

Athon
Click to expand...

Actually all you'd need is a wavelength that would pass through skin but not bone. Don't ask me what wavelength, the only one I can think of is X-ray, and you'd need one hell of a massive generator to produce enough X-ray power to do serious enough damage for a weapon. For the idea of focussing to work you need to figure out a way to accurately (and actively) range find which feeds into a very precise beam focuser. Can't see it being practical, but then it is for a fiction story! :D

ps just thought, the difference between the beam travel length to the skin and the focal point would probably be too small, unless the beam emitter was quite wide, or the weapon was used from very close range. You'd end up with a virtual focus on the skin.

Oh well, just a couple of random thoughts! :cool:
 
Better not use the word "laser" I would think.
The weapon could have 2 or more emitters that focus the Q-beam (or whatever) under the skin.
 
The concept sounds vaguely familiar. Maybe i'm thinking of time-reversed sound waves being used to shatter kidney stones without surgery. Maybe a similar concept could be used to focus light through a translucent medium.
 
Electromagnetic induction weapons. Remote ball lightning generator in effect. Two focussed EM fields interact at a preset point to produce an interference standing wave which manifests as a plasma ball. Hiding behind something is pointless. The explosion due to the plasma ball can be very small, as aim is precise. (Inside the head of a fighter pilot for instance). Clearly, there would be an inverse square range limit, but you just use a bigger generator. Hand versions would be limited to pistol range, full battlefield jobs could take out tanks, towns, you name it.
Fiddly things to set of course, so the fire rate is low, but then every one's a hit. If you are shooting back with a rifle, your only hope is your higher rate of fire.

As used by the garlesqueeg battalions of the Squelk Sector.

Feel free to use. I hope it's total nonsense.
(My Stimpy Detector is starting to flash! Start the generators).
 
Actually these type of devices do exist in hospitals, they focus positrons or X-Rays to a particular area ( mostly used for inoperable brain tumors) and destroy only the cancerous/ tumor tissue. The machines take up two rooms , cost a kabillion bux , and require complete stillness on the part of the patient. The cost in energy is huge , the cost id dollars is in the millions. So does the concept seem viable yes... for a mass produced, hand held weapon ..err, coff,coff
 
Microwaves?

If focused at depth they could generate a lot of damage and you can make some very very powerful emiters. Im thinking superheated steam, internal explosions......hmmmm.

Mind you the counter measures would be fairly simple to get.
 
How about this: Use a particle that does not interact with matter (usualy) but decays at a set rate. At about the time when the particles converge on the focus of the weapon (some distance inside the target) the particles decay into other particles that do interact with normal matter, as well as giving off energy, thereby frying the innards of the target without losing an energy into the tissue the flood of particles went through.

This sort of decay has been observed in various particles, but you might want to do more research before your friend uses the concept. One particle that has been observed to transmute is the neutrino. You could have a neutrino cannon!
 
TillEulenspiegel said:
Actually these type of devices do exist in hospitals, they focus positrons or X-Rays to a particular area..........
Click to expand...

They store positrons in hospitals ready for use? That's got to be risky....
 
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