Weapons from Science Fiction

[DreadPirateMurphy]

I actually thought of that myself when they first used it, but the series is a Super Robot show that is more about having fun than hard science in the first place. Besides, every sci-fi series bends some scientific laws (or all of them) freely anyways in the name of coolness and plot, so it doesn't really bug me that much.

Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant had a lightspeed travel mechanism that converted an object (like a ship) into encoded light patterns. Somehow (I forget the details), the light waves would be resolved back into the object at its destination (typically another star system). I mention it because in one scene in the book, a hostile ship is converted into light -- and shot into the back of another ship like a laser.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

All this speculation is good, but I feel that in Real Life we'll probably still be mostly using Kalashnikov's for the next century.

Probably. The M16 was introduced into service in 1962, and it was based on the AR-10, a design from 1954. Design work on the AK-47 began in 1944, and started service in '47-49. The upgraded and rechambered AK-74 was introduced in 1974. The two most popular service rifles in the world are both based on designs more than 50 years old today.

The Browning .50 M2 was designed at the end of WWI and is still in use today with the U.S. military. 9mm Parabellum, the caliber used in the U.S. Military's standard service pistol (the Beretta M9) was introduced in 1902. Some military technologies have very long service lives.

On the other hand, the P90 was designed in '86-'87, so it is a relatively new design. It is very effective at killing Goa'uld, Wraith, and Ori soliders.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, gunpowder & dumb projectiles are a fairly effective and reliable tech, so we'll probably be seeing some form of guns for a while.

However, we are starting to see increasingly "sci-fi" type weaponry make it to the RW practical level.

In the past 15 years, we've seen not 1 but 2 man-made materials exceed the hardness of diamond; glue-guns a-la Marvel Comics' Trapster's deployed in the Persian Gulf; sonic weapons go from FutureWeapons to deployment in the war against piracy and for crowd control; and lasers capable of disorienting or even harming humans get down to the size of a night-watchman's flashlight- you can find ads for them in the backs of Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and other magazines for $1000-3000 each.

I've even seen reports about advances in Iron Man style body armor w/artificial muscles and a cloaking system that reminds one of the Predator movies.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

However, we are starting to see increasingly "sci-fi" type weaponry make it to the RW practical level.

We always seem to be predicting things before we have them. H.G. Wells and Jules Verne predicted tanks and nuclear submarines, among other things. I see no reason why that trend won't continue.

Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoe: We live in a spaceship, dear.
Wash: So?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Don't forget Tesla's Death Rays!

 

[FoxWander]

There have been several things mentioned well beyond the scope of one of my faves, but I was always a fan of Simon Hawke's warp grenades from his Timekeepers book series. Warp grenades combine a handheld nuclear bomb with a modified time machine that transports part of the explosion to the center of the galaxy. So you set the machine's field size to the size of the explosion you want to get precisely-tuned devastation- while keeping everything outside of the field unharmed! Although there is a slight implosion effect due to the vacuum caused in the area that gets nuked. But still, skirmish-scale nuclear devices are pretty awesome!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

There have been several things mentioned well beyond the scope of one of my faves, but I was always a fan of Simon Hawke's warp grenades from his Timekeepers book series. Warp grenades combine a handheld nuclear bomb with a modified time machine that transports part of the explosion to the center of the galaxy. So you set the machine's field size to the size of the explosion you want to get precisely-tuned devastation- while keeping everything outside of the field unharmed! Although there is a slight implosion effect due to the vacuum caused in the area that gets nuked. But still, skirmish-scale nuclear devices are pretty awesome!

It's all fun and games until someone from the center of the galaxy inquires who has been using these weapons.

 

[SKyOdin]

There have been several things mentioned well beyond the scope of one of my faves, but I was always a fan of Simon Hawke's warp grenades from his Timekeepers book series. Warp grenades combine a handheld nuclear bomb with a modified time machine that transports part of the explosion to the center of the galaxy. So you set the machine's field size to the size of the explosion you want to get precisely-tuned devastation- while keeping everything outside of the field unharmed! Although there is a slight implosion effect due to the vacuum caused in the area that gets nuked. But still, skirmish-scale nuclear devices are pretty awesome!

It sounds a lot like the FLEIJA warheads from Code Geass (even down to the implosion/vacuum effect after the explosion) in its effects. The FLEIJA used some kind of forcefield technology to contain the explosion (I think) instead of a time machine though. Honestly, warping a nuclear explosion into the center of the galaxy seems like a completely unnecessary waste of energy and a little silly.

When I was poking around random topics on Wikipedia a few months ago, I did stumble on the fact that most modern nuclear bombs are technically variable yield devices, which can be set to detonate with varying amounts of power. For example, the same device can be set to detonate at 0.3 kilotons, 5 kilotons, 10 kilotons, or 80 kilotons. Sometimes real technology is weirder than sci-fi.

 

[TanisFrey]

When I was poking around random topics on Wikipedia a few months ago, I did stumble on the fact that most modern nuclear bombs are technically variable yield devices, which can be set to detonate with varying amounts of power. For example, the same device can be set to detonate at 0.3 kilotons, 5 kilotons, 10 kilotons, or 80 kilotons. Sometimes real technology is weirder than sci-fi.

I would guess that there would be more fall-out from the small booms compared to the big ones. After all, fall-out is the unexploded bit of the nuclear core.