Electrolasers: how easy to build and what are the laws?

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Should civilians have wireless tasers?
Yes 67%  67%  [ 6 ]
No 22%  22%  [ 2 ]
Maybe 11%  11%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 9

iamnotaparakeet
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16 Dec 2007, 12:07 am

I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser and was wondering what the laws might be and the ease of building such a device.

In function it could be considered a taser without wires.

In its construction it would be a laser with sufficient power to cause the blooming effect and an oscillating circuit with high voltage.

I have a thread about this in PPR for discussing the ethics of directed energy weapons, but I was wondering what level of technical skill it would require to build one of these and who would be allowed to use them?

I'm not going to build this nor do I have the technical skill, but I'm wondering about this because it sounds fascinating to me right now.



woodsman25
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16 Dec 2007, 12:33 am

I voted no, civilians should not have such weapons because their is a huge potential for death and distruction if placed in the wrong hands. The military could use them to shoot down missles and it sounds like the first military use for them, from what I understand, as far as development goes will be to aid in missle defence.

Thier certainly will need to be a high level of skill amoung those putting thse together. They require alot of energy and plenty of technology. Smaller lazers will someday be avalible to civilians probably for cutting purposes in industry so far that I have seen, but as far as a weapon????

I have seen prototypes being shown on the military channel and I certainly think they have the potential to change how wars are fought, someday they could be used instead of bombs and missles, perhapse sooner rather then later as an excellent way to throw up a wall of high energy particles to instantly distroy the enemy or an enemy missle, plane, ground units and even satalites.

My biggest fear is what would happen in the event of war if combating nations develope the tehcnology and use it to perhapse knock out our satalites, planes ect. I can see this being a real problem, and I highly doubt their would be any real defence against such attack against my nations most important tool for anything from communication to military to accurate positioning on Earth, our satalites are very vulnerable and such an easy way to bring down many options and services in the US.

Sorry if I went a little off track... I never mean too. I worry what the future will have in store really.


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iamnotaparakeet
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16 Dec 2007, 12:49 am

woodsman25 wrote:
I voted no, civilians should not have such weapons because their is a huge potential for death and distruction if placed in the wrong hands. The military could use them to shoot down missles and it sounds like the first military use for them, from what I understand, as far as development goes will be to aid in missle defence.

Thier certainly will need to be a high level of skill amoung those putting thse together. They require alot of energy and plenty of technology. Smaller lazers will someday be avalible to civilians probably for cutting purposes in industry so far that I have seen, but as far as a weapon????

I have seen prototypes being shown on the military channel and I certainly think they have the potential to change how wars are fought, someday they could be used instead of bombs and missles, perhapse sooner rather then later as an excellent way to throw up a wall of high energy particles to instantly distroy the enemy or an enemy missle, plane, ground units and even satalites.

My biggest fear is what would happen in the event of war if combating nations develope the tehcnology and use it to perhapse knock out our satalites, planes ect. I can see this being a real problem, and I highly doubt their would be any real defence against such attack against my nations most important tool for anything from communication to military to accurate positioning on Earth, our satalites are very vulnerable and such an easy way to bring down many options and services in the US.

Sorry if I went a little off track... I never mean too. I worry what the future will have in store really.


The blooming effect is atmospheric so it wouldn't reach satellites. Too little atmosphere for a plasma channel to have any real conductivity.



Remnant
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16 Dec 2007, 2:16 am

Very nearly impossible to build, nearly pointless because almost anything that a person can build will be a lot cheaper for the punch, and not much point in outlawing them because no one has the resources to build one anyway.



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17 Dec 2007, 8:42 pm

I voted yes because people need to defend themselves. We shouldn't have to rely pathetic cops to take care of everything, a) because they take too long and b) because law enforcement is corrupt, and it will probably never not be corrupt, I understand that cops are allowed to break the law when they have to, but they misuse their privileges.

Another thought: Did any of you hear about the shooting at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska? Well, I live in Bellevue, which is not too far away, not only that, one of my friends met the kid committed the murder once, he also knew not one of the victims, but someone who was there to witness it. This world is messed up already, civilians having access to this stuff won't even be able to mess it up even more.



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17 Dec 2007, 9:39 pm

In their zeal to get guns away from people who need them for self-defense, they disarm us and leave us so that a person with a gun can pot one person after another. All that the gun-grabbers really do is make sure that no one has a way to make an effective defense against a shooter.



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19 Dec 2007, 11:06 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser and was wondering what the laws might be and the ease of building such a device.

In function it could be considered a taser without wires.

In its construction it would be a laser with sufficient power to cause the blooming effect and an oscillating circuit with high voltage.

I have a thread about this in PPR for discussing the ethics of directed energy weapons, but I was wondering what level of technical skill it would require to build one of these and who would be allowed to use them?

I'm not going to build this nor do I have the technical skill, but I'm wondering about this because it sounds fascinating to me right now.



There were something out there. I seen it before but they still haven't finish the developement. It would be better than firing a limited range taser gun. There are time that you want to saves the guy life but he to far away from distance to fire it.

There are rifle that can burst split second of BBs shot that can tear through your body. We are not talking about 1 but big enough to poke a sharp steel rod through you or they might be fired in group of 10 or more.



Bopkasen
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19 Dec 2007, 2:22 pm

Bopkasen wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser and was wondering what the laws might be and the ease of building such a device.

In function it could be considered a taser without wires.

In its construction it would be a laser with sufficient power to cause the blooming effect and an oscillating circuit with high voltage.

I have a thread about this in PPR for discussing the ethics of directed energy weapons, but I was wondering what level of technical skill it would require to build one of these and who would be allowed to use them?

I'm not going to build this nor do I have the technical skill, but I'm wondering about this because it sounds fascinating to me right now.



There were something out there. I seen it before but they still haven't finish the developement. It would be better than firing a limited range taser gun. There are time that you want to saves the guy life but he to far away from distance to fire it.

There are rifle that can burst split second of BBs shot that can tear through your body. We are not talking about 1 but big enough to poke a sharp steel rod through you or they might be fired in group of 10 or more.



Actually the big steel thing bullet are called Slug but they are illegal in most states.



Remnant
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19 Dec 2007, 5:29 pm

An electrolaser would actually not work that way. Any laser powerful enough to create a conductive path through the air would incinerate your target.



pakled
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22 Dec 2007, 3:19 pm

you've been able to buy lasers as far back as the 80s (Edmund Scientific, as I remember). You have to generate the energy, which would require a hefty power source. not sure there'll be a portable version soon...;)



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22 Dec 2007, 9:26 pm

pakled wrote:
you've been able to buy lasers as far back as the 80s (Edmund Scientific, as I remember). You have to generate the energy, which would require a hefty power source. not sure there'll be a portable version soon...;)


These days low-power lasers are semiconductor chips that are easily powered using small batteries.



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23 Dec 2007, 5:12 am

Same as conventional guns. Then again, if defensive, non-lethal versions could be made, that could be useful.

woodsman25 wrote:
... Smaller lazers will someday be avalible to civilians probably for cutting purposes in industry so far that I have seen, but as far as a weapon????


It's only osed to ionize the air between the gun and the target and small, handheld leaser have been around for a decade or two.