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
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Boeing succesfully tested it's lazer cannon! Now with link!
03/09/2009 05:34:14 AM
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Awesome! Ancient weapons and hokey religions.... you know the rest. *NM*
03/09/2009 06:21:32 AM
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The Android Girl/Boyfriend had compatibility issues, IIRC.
03/09/2009 10:20:19 AM
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Re: The Android Girl/Boyfriend had compatibility issues, IIRC.
03/09/2009 01:20:02 PM
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Who does Boeing plan to shoot at?
03/09/2009 11:04:03 AM
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Boeing makes, or made, a lot of our military aircraft, too, y'know.
03/09/2009 02:36:15 PM
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