Lasers projectile question

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Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Have you ever noticed how in 99% of games (and movies) that have laser weapons , the weapon shoots a sort of "laser bullet" projectile? How is that possible? If you have ever shined a laser at something, even for a split second, you will notice that it goes pretty much INSTANTLY from point a to point b (well, faster then your eyes can see anyway). I wonder why in fallout they didn't make the laser shoot a BEAM instead of a little bullet thing...

Is it even possible to start, then stop a laser fast enough to create a short projectile like that? Even if it was possible, it would still hit the target almost instantaneously, faster then you could see it.
 
I'm not sure why Fallout didn't have lasers, but most modern films/whatevers do have laser-lasers, even if they're not so much instanteneous as constant lasers.

Fallout had the same "blob of energy" for laser as it did for plasma. Both are more-or-less scientifically impossible.

Remember, Fallout is "Science!", not science.
 
Like Kharn said - high technology in Fallout is pseudoscientific, as it is in '50s sci-fi. Specifically, Fallout's laser beams look like slow blobs of glowing plasma because that's what they appear like in '50s sci-fi works.
 
A laser is really an inefficent weapon when you think about it, because it still needs time to burn through what you shoot it at, so you'd have to fire and hold it on them. Not easy in a combat situation.

How much power would a laser need and what frequency of light in order to burn a hole through them in a second?
 
How much power would a laser need and what frequency of light in order to burn a hole through them in a second?
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http://www.northropgrumman.com/missiledefense/ProgramInfo/ABL.html

I have seen the test firings of these they cut through 5" of steel in seconds. What they could do to an exposed human would be awe inspiring. Refining and miniaturizing the technology of course is the issue at hand but the war happened when? 2077? We will probably have time to refine it before then.
 
Yeah it could work. A friend of mine who knows about this sort of wacky shit has told me that there have been for a while man-portable laser weapons designed to and capable of killing, but that they aren't efficient weapons compared to conventional ballistics. You do have to burn through what you hit, so the power output in one burst has to be tremendous. Modern aircraft-mounted laser weapons use some kind of chemical to do their dirty work of generating light; I saw a very early demonstration of a kind of laser pistol that used a flash bulb to create a few microseconds of relatively powerful beam; the demonstrator pointed it at a colored "Micky mouse" balloon inside a clear ballon, and fired the pistol. The flashbulb went "Pop" and so did Micky, leaving the clear balloon intact! Priceless. Fuck a weapon, I'd just love to have that pistol so I could pop people's balloons.
 
that's rather disturbing when you think about it, popping a balloon inside a balloon? If you think how that could be used in war it's like popping the heart inside a body. It probably can't do that but I bet it could eventually.
 
And of course lasers are used to paint targets, but, that is been around a while AND does not cause damage... well, directly
 
Joachim said:
that's rather disturbing when you think about it, popping a balloon inside a balloon? If you think how that could be used in war it's like popping the heart inside a body. It probably can't do that but I bet it could eventually.
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Not really. The laser went through the clear balloon because it was, well, clear. The red Micky Mouse Balloon "caught" the brunt of the beam while the clear one passed most of it. So unless you chest is incredibly see-through (This must make medical diagnosis a breeze) you have nothing to worry about.
 
ah well it might get worse, think of it as a sign for technology to get better and more dangerous
 
Whats really interesting is that I was watching a documentary about lasers a few weeks ago on Discovery and there they were talking about how high powered lasers ionize the air around the beam. About the same time I was playing Swat 4 where you carry a tazer (the one which shoot the wires), so anyway, I thought about wether it would be possible to send electricity down that ionized path and what do you know, you can.
 
Maybe its not a LASER... may be its a FUCKING HIGH POWERED ENERGY SHOT...

Its called laser because its red! :)

(inutil flood)
 
Shot of what may i ask? Lets think about energy and our choices; so it could either be light - suggesting laser; sound/kenetic - wouldn't be red and probably would just punch back/through the target ; heat - well then they'd burst into flames.
Try applying a little logic to what you're saying - we know it probably doesn't look realistic (sci-fi) but at least come up with a better explaination.

DDD - sounds cool, essentially you'd overcome the problems of having to change/recoil wires after shooting does that out way the size of laser, powersource, etc?
 
I'm not sure if I understand the question... If you are asking whether the weapon would be larger and use more power than the tazer, the answer is yes, I imagine it would. If I understand correctly the energy output required to ionize the air is not negligable, combined with the energy required to knock someone on their ass, the powersource would be large and expensive, but considering it's potential I think it can and will be made more effective.
 
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