L. Marcus Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 . . . Seems fiddly, though -- you need molecular antimatter: New Scientist has the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER I thought a graser was just a greasy laser Seriously though, this sonds like it can be a really nasty weapon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted September 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Oh, yeah... a very, very nasty weapon. It just screams for a printed write-up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comic Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Hrm. Sadly, any technology that depends on Maxwell Demons to function suffers from reliability issues. But with such a powerful weapon, who cares if it has an activation once in 2^2451346 attempts? That one shot would be worth waiting for. (Cycle length 150 nanoseconds. So, it _might_ fire once in the lifespan of the Universe.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Hrm. Sadly, any technology that depends on Maxwell Demons to function suffers from reliability issues. But with such a powerful weapon, who cares if it has an activation once in 2^2451346 attempts? That one shot would be worth waiting for. (Cycle length 150 nanoseconds. So, it _might_ fire once in the lifespan of the Universe.) But for a patient species, and one who had a better handle on manipulating such exotic matter, a weapon that has a milennial firing cycle time might not be too far fetched....especially if they are bent on genocide. (See John Fords' short story "The Sapphire As Big As The Marsport Hilton" for an example... ) -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inu Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER If it can be made to work, certainly beats having to use nukes to prime the laser. That plays havoc with a ship's internal systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorPse Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER It's funny, the word positronium sounds like bad SF. But, I suppose life is sometimes goofier than fiction... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER "Its a laser that projects a beam of pure anti-matter" rep for the first person to identify this quote seems a lot messy, why not just stick to bomb pumped missile warheads? or use gravitic focusing as in the Honor Harrington books among other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtelson Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER "Its a laser that projects a beam of pure anti-matter" rep for the first person to identify this quote Great Heavens, that's a laser. Yes Doctor Scott, a laser capable of emitting a beam of pure antimatter. That's from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER for all we know it could be a giant electromagnetic catapult used to toss bovines at the enemy those agrarian races have some really odd weapons, why are all the tractor beams painted green and gold ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER for all we know it could be a giant electromagnetic catapult used to toss bovines at the enemy those agrarian races have some really odd weapons, why are all the tractor beams painted green and gold ? :D I would rep you for the image of a John Deere battle fleet but... "I must spread some around, yada, yada.....". -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted September 18, 2007 Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER (While holding graser, no matter the size) So is it rabbit season, or duck season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted September 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Duck Dodger-Season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Given that positronium is just an electron and an anti-electron in a mutual (decaying) "orbit" around each other, I think I'd quibble with calling such an arrangement an 'atom'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Duck Dodger-Season! *Veet!* You're dessssspicable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted September 20, 2007 Report Share Posted September 20, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Well, if you wanted a "superlaser" that could potentially do bad stuff on a megascale, a gamma ray laser would be the way to go. You'd need a pretty massive energy source to pump it, though. But if you had one, you could put it in some kind of massive mobile space station, about the size of a small moon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Re: How To Build A GRASER Duck Dodger-Season! That's not a super-laser. It's a disintegrator. And when it disintegrates... well, you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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