Another thought

[sbarron]

Just to add to my previous post, I was talking to a friend the other day who was telling me about some new weapon that was being designed that could fire pennies at half the speed of light using electro magnetics (or something, I had been drinking :) ) I think that a weapon like this would certainly be more destructive than any wimpy 16" gun, right? However, this much power would bring as many problems as it did advantages.

That penny would punch though almost any substance on earth, and just keep going. The potential for accidental casualties and damage would be incredible. So a weapon like this would have limited applications, and couldn't be used in almost any war because it would have too much destructive power. It would become like a nuclear weapon, something that is threatened to be used, but almost never broken out. I guess if we were going to be fighting another alien race that we didn't mind exterminating, we'd use it, but almost never on ourselves. I'm justy rambling now, so I'm gonna shut up.

As a final thought, how much damage would a penny traveling at half the speed of light do? Anyone?

[Gary]

Originally posted by sbarron
Just to add to my previous post, I was talking to a friend the other day who was telling me about some new weapon that was being designed that could fire pennies at half the speed of light using electro magnetics (or something, I had been drinking :) ) I think that a weapon like this would certainly be more destructive than any wimpy 16" gun, right? However, this much power would bring as many problems as it did advantages.

That penny would punch though almost any substance on earth, and just keep going. The potential for accidental casualties and damage would be incredible. So a weapon like this would have limited applications, and couldn't be used in almost any war because it would have too much destructive power. It would become like a nuclear weapon, something that is threatened to be used, but almost never broken out. I guess if we were going to be fighting another alien race that we didn't mind exterminating, we'd use it, but almost never on ourselves. I'm justy rambling now, so I'm gonna shut up.

As a final thought, how much damage would a penny traveling at half the speed of light do? Anyone?

Let's assume 1 gram for the weight of the penny.

.5 * (.001) * (150,000,000)^2 = 11.25 trillion joules of energy. Roughly a 2-3 kiloton nuke.

Anyway, if the weapon can accelerate the penny to .5c, it can certainly accelerate it to .01c or some reasonable number. It can be used in combat, just not at full power.

[Mutant for Hire]

Originally posted by sbarron
Just to add to my previous post, I was talking to a friend the other day who was telling me about some new weapon that was being designed that could fire pennies at half the speed of light using electro magnetics (or something, I had been drinking :) ) I think that a weapon like this would certainly be more destructive than any wimpy 16" gun, right? However, this much power would bring as many problems as it did advantages.


For the record, your friend was discussing a rail gun, though the half the speed of light business is a trifle exaggerated. I don't know how many times the speed of sound they get the projectiles up to now, but its nowhere near a percentage of the speed of light.

And incidentally, I expect that from air friction the penny would vaporize really fast.

[Chris Goodwin]

A penny is probably something like 4 DEF, 1 BODY, and therefore could never do more than 5d6.

[Aroooo]

Originally posted by archer
A penny is probably something like 4 DEF, 1 BODY, and therefore could never do more than 5d6.

Hu? Keep in mind that I ask this question suffering from severe jet lag, but where do you get 5d6 from? I also think 4 DEF is too high.

Aroooo

[Zeropoint]

Also keep in mind that the behaviours of materials in extreme circumstances may not be quite what you expect. Metals splash at high impact velocities--researchers actually model them as liquids for computer simulations.

This means that the penny ceases to exist as a coherent object after the first serious impact.

Zeropoint.

[Gary]

Originally posted by archer
A penny is probably something like 4 DEF, 1 BODY, and therefore could never do more than 5d6.

The penny would only do 5D6 if it was a thrown object. If it was a fired object like a bullet, it'll do as much damage as the weapon firing it was rated.



Also keep in mind that the behaviours of materials in extreme circumstances may not be quite what you expect. Metals splash at high impact velocities--researchers actually model them as liquids for computer simulations.

This means that the penny ceases to exist as a coherent object after the first serious impact.

If it 'splashes', it might be even more dangerous. We're talking about the equivalent of 2-3 kilotons of energy at work here. Each 'drop' will have enough remaining energy to devastate whatever it hits.

[keithcurtis]

It would take a snot load of energy to accelerate a penny to that speed. Probably far more than it would generate on impact. If you can generate that much energy, you are probably misapplying your resources. Use that energy to power factories to make bombs or planes or feed the enemy's enemies or something. Heck if you can generate that much energy, just attach jumper cables to opposite ends of the enemy country and watch 'em fry.

Keith "Who in no way advocates the wartime applications of the common penny" Curtis

[Syberdwarf2]

Wow. Talk about throwing money at the problem. :D

Seriously, I know a lot of people hate this being brought up; but this sounds a lot like the Glitter Boy Boom Gun from Rifts. If the government is working on such a device, or soomething similar, wouldn't it be more akin to a gauss needler? Something firing ultra high velocity needles that wouldn't flatten out as fast?
Come to think of it, the govt already has caseless ammunition automatic rifles. Adding needles to the repetoire of bullet types would end up giving you a gauss gun, would it not?
If my concept of the physics is wrong, pleez excuse my ignorance.

[BasilDrag]

Half the speed of light?!?? Come on, be serious!

At that velocity, you need to use the reletivistic formula for kinetic energy:
KE=mc^2(1-sqrt(1-v^2/c^2))

Still, at .5c that gives a figure only about 7.2% higher than the Newtonian formula.

In Earth's atmosphere at circa sealevel, anything solid will melt at about 4500 m/s. That's about .000015c.
Even in outer space, .5c will cause friction; "space" is not a perfect vacuum. However, in ship-to-ship battles, it wouldn't be a problem (I don't think).

Needles (properly flechettes) would make better sense than flat discs as projectiles, ;)

--
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. -- Unknown

[Nelijal]

Will someone please explain how I can throw a penny at someone and it be a 5d6 attack?

[Monolith]

Originally posted by Nelijal
Will someone please explain how I can throw a penny at someone and it be a 5d6 attack?
Well first you need to assume a penny has a 4 DEF and 1 BODY. Then you need a 25 STR. If you have both of those things, you can throw a penny for 5d6. :)

[MarkusDark]

Throw it at him while you are in a plane 2000 feet in the air. Coins burying themselves in cement sidewalks from the Empire State Building has happenend.

[Nelijal]

Originally posted by Monolith
Well first you need to assume a penny has a 4 DEF and 1 BODY. Then you need a 25 STR. If you have both of those things, you can throw a penny for 5d6. :) If I've got 25 STR, I don't need the penny. ;)

[AnotherSkip]

Originally posted by Nelijal
If I've got 25 STR, I don't need the penny. ;)

sure you do...
so that way you can hit the punk and claim that you never touched him, I was just paying him back.... _with interest_.