Active Users:1187 Time:23/11/2024 01:35:46 AM
Re: The Android Girl/Boyfriend had compatibility issues, IIRC. Isaac Send a noteboard - 03/09/2009 01:20:02 PM
That is seriously pretty cool though, particularly the part about the dramatic reduction in collateral damage (something that had never occurred to me but seems obvious in retrospect. ) I think Lucas might sue when he sees the prototype aircraft in the picture though. I'm a little curious what "defeated" means, however; are we talking about a meter wide hole trough the drivers door, or a smoking crater? It'll be more impressive when they can hit a MOVING target, too, even if I recall the statement Bill Mauldin once had Willie and Joe make to a passing tank offering a lift: "No, thanks; a roving foxhole attracts the eye.... "


'Defeated' get's to be a tricky term. Lasers only do tiny amounts of kinetic damage, and most ground based structures carry enough mass - unlike planes or missiles - that they can absorb the heat pretty easily. Usually regarding lasers they are talking about taking out electronic systems, which screws a jet or missile, but doesn't do much to tanks, howitzers, or APCs. Those Roving Foxholes can absorb just about anything short of a nuclear strike, and even then it needs to be a farirly close hit.

In this case we are definetly not talking about either a meter wide hole in the door or a smoking crater, and most tanks would surive an attack that produced what you and I would think of as a smoking crater anyway. Just to give you an idea, to burn through an inch of steel a meter wide would require energies on an order of a gigajoule which need to be delivered in well under a second, required a multi-gigawatt generator, not counting that few lasers run at anything like 100% efficiency. You want to leave a smoking crater on par with what a large artillery round or cruise missile would cause you looking at needing a laser hooked up to a nuclear reactor, and a big one at that.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Reply to message
Boeing succesfully tested it's lazer cannon! Now with link! - 03/09/2009 05:34:14 AM 702 Views
Is there a link so I can pass this on? - 03/09/2009 05:53:18 AM 328 Views
Re: Oops! Now includes link. *NM* - 03/09/2009 08:23:45 AM 170 Views
Pics or it didn't happen. *NM* - 03/09/2009 05:57:01 AM 156 Views
Awesome! Ancient weapons and hokey religions.... you know the rest. *NM* - 03/09/2009 06:21:32 AM 146 Views
The Android Girl/Boyfriend had compatibility issues, IIRC. - 03/09/2009 10:20:19 AM 336 Views
Re: The Android Girl/Boyfriend had compatibility issues, IIRC. - 03/09/2009 01:20:02 PM 421 Views
I suspected as much. - 03/09/2009 02:27:09 PM 404 Views
Who does Boeing plan to shoot at? - 03/09/2009 11:04:03 AM 314 Views
Probably still not too useful though - 03/09/2009 12:57:15 PM 337 Views
It popped all the popcorn in my house. *NM* - 03/09/2009 04:33:42 PM 151 Views
Now we just need a butter ray. *NM* - 05/09/2009 02:08:18 AM 144 Views

Reply to Message