Xavier Onassiss Posted April 21, 2010 Report Share Posted April 21, 2010 Presented without comment: Do laser guns have recoil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Categorically yes, laser weapons have recoil. It's not a lot (compared to matter projectile weapons), but it's there. In fact, the easiest way to get to the famous E = mc^2 equation is through the light-recoil phenomenon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Yep.....Dagburn Physics! Why must you make the Universe so Difficult! ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Well, also, if laser weapons gave no recoil, then laser rockets for propulsion could not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Very true, but try explaning that to "that" player who doesn't understand even the simple things like "Why would being exposed to that much gamma radiation be harmful....the stuff just goes right through the cells!" and "It's a LASER......not like Photons actually Hit anything. It's just Light!" ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Presented without comment: Do laser guns have recoil? While the posts that say "yes" are correct, in practice it would take an absurdly high powered laser to get enough recoil to be a problem to the firer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Yes, but it would be a much bigger problem for the victim. Muahahaaa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Do lasers have recoil? Of course they do. Light has momentum so conservation of momentum dictates that the laser must recoil . . . slightly. To compare the recoil of a laser pistol to a firearm, though, you should be looking at recoil energy: the kinetic energy of the gun after the shot. You could also look at the momentum of the gun, but either way, it's going to be so low as to be imperceptible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Momentum is easier to compute because momentum is always conserved whether the collision is inelastic or not. Energy is often wasted in heating, deforming, or breaking up the colliding bodies. Well, that's not always "wasting", but you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Of course, the post is using Star Wars blasters as a reference, which are not technically lasers. They are either particle beam weapons, or plasma weapons (depending on the blaster). http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Ooh! Ooh! Is there perhaps a site on the Internet where I can go to find a little more of this fascinating additional information about the Star Wars universe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! I read a good description on the sound of lasers in an RPG several years ago. They're not quiet for several reasons- Firing a laser in an atmosphere, especially a laser that is visible (as they all seem to be) - means it's interacting with the air molecules and probably disintegrating them. This creates a vacuum, in which the surrounding air will rush with a pop. Capacitor charging - hum Capacitor discharge - bang. Or something like that. There's also the sound of whatever happens to the material the laser hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! I read a good description on the sound of lasers in an RPG several years ago. They're not quiet for several reasons- Firing a laser in an atmosphere, especially a laser that is visible (as they all seem to be) - means it's interacting with the air molecules and probably disintegrating them. This creates a vacuum, in which the surrounding air will rush with a pop. No, it is not "disintegrating" the air molecules. It is super-heating them, and possibly ionizing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted April 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Ooh! Ooh! Is there perhaps a site on the Internet where I can go to find a little more of this fascinating additional information about the Star Wars universe? At http://www.stardestroyer.net you can read about it for hours and hours and hours. Uh...if you really want to. Have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Ooh! Ooh! Is there perhaps a site on the Internet where I can go to find a little more of this fascinating additional information about the Star Wars universe? The link I provided is to the Blasters page on Wookieepedia. JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! No' date=' it is not "disintegrating" the air molecules. It is super-heating them, and possibly ionizing them.[/quote'] Depends, it may be giving the molecules enough energy to break them up into atoms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Carman Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! While the posts that say "yes" are correct' date=' in practice it would take an absurdly high powered laser to get enough recoil to be a problem to the firer.[/quote'] http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3c2.html Photon: PHOTON DRIVE. The exhaust is not a stream of matter. Instead it is a beam of electromagnetic radiation, basically a large laser. The advantage is that it has the maximum possible exhaust velocity and thus the highest specific impulse. The disadvantage is the ludicrously high power requirements. The momentum of a photon is p = E/c, where E is the energy of the photon. So the thrust delivered by a stream of photons is ∂p/∂t = ∂E/∂t/c . This boils down to: F = P/c P = F * c where: F = thrust in Newtons P = power in joules c = speed of light in a vacuum (3e8 m/s) In other words, one lousy Newton of thrust takes three hundred freaking megawatts!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! But if Power is not really an issue, you can have a drive, and a weapon all at the same time. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Carman Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! But if Power is not really an issue, you can have a drive, and a weapon all at the same time. ~Rex "The Kzinti Lesson" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted April 23, 2010 Report Share Posted April 23, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Correct! Knew someone else out there had to have read that one....heh. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! The link I provided is to the Blasters page on Wookieepedia. JoeG Hey! No blasters! And your droids, they'll have to wait outside, we don't serve their kind here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Hey! No blasters! And your droids' date=' they'll have to wait outside, we don't server their kind here.[/quote'] Which raises the question "What do you serve droids in a bar?" Y'know, considering they don't eat or drink. (I fixed your typo for you Susano) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! Which raises the question "What do you serve droids in a bar?" Y'know, considering they don't eat or drink. (I fixed your typo for you Susano) They don't eat or drink, but take up space that could be holding a paying customer, so they're not welcome. Although it is weird that he'd phrase it that way since there is no way to serve a droid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted April 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! C3PO 'got served' quite a few times, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera 12 Posted April 25, 2010 Report Share Posted April 25, 2010 Re: Another weird science post: Laser Recoil! They don't eat or drink' date=' but take up space that could be holding a paying customer, so they're not welcome. Although it is weird that he'd phrase it that way since there is no way to serve a droid.[/quote'] There are so many ways to make a terrible pun on 'serving a droid' that...nah, I won't go there. That said, if I'm a grungy barkeeper in a run-down spaceport in just about any setting, "we don't serve your kind here" is probably one of my stock phrases already. And if it's good enough for rabble of the actual-people kind, it's more than good enough for some effin' machine. Hrmph. Dang edumacated kids these days, always goin' on about this 'Seaman Ticks' fella... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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