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Plausible chain lightning weapon?
Topic Started: Mar 23 2012, 08:52 AM (575 Views)
zaktan
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I was thinking of a weapon where a conductive liquid like... water maybe ... was fired out and a high voltage was passed through it, shocking anyone hit by the liquid. It's more of a psychological weapon rather than practical, being fried by lightning isn't very fun. Call it the lightningthrower. Is it plausible? Or will it fail like the icethrower? : P
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

What stops the liquid from dipersing? Remember pure water isn't very conductive, it's the ions that are the charge carriers.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Russwallac
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They tried this on Mythbusters (I love that show!); theire success was limited at best.
"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

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lamna
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When someone had a waz on an electric fence?
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Russwallac
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No, they tried to make a water-based stun gun.
"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

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T.Neo
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The results from the Mythbusters experiments on the 'Peeing on the third rail' myth are relevant here though. A stream of liquid is, over an appreciable distance, going to disperse into droplets. A stream of seperate droplets can't carry a charge, making electrocution impossible.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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colddigger
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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This is why wires with hooks on the end are better and already in use.
Oh Fine.

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lamna
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Or you could just shot them.
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colddigger
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Yeah, that's certainly a good way too.

Though throw some http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-22/david-carroll-turns-fabric-into-an-energy-source onto your deathly electro taser thingy and you don't have to reload bullets OR batteries!
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Ànraich
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I've seen a gun that uses a stream of argon gas to shoot a bolt of lighting. But again, success was limited at best. The gas dispersed and made it have a short range. And the voltage wasn't the high, and even if it was you'd have to carry around a massive power source.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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lamna
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At the end of the day, throwing metal really fast at someone is still the best way to end their lives.
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Kamidio
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Nope. Jamming a lit stick of dynamite into their mouth is still the best way.
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Russwallac
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"Ta-da!"
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T.Neo
Mar 23 2012, 12:15 PM
The results from the Mythbusters experiments on the 'Peeing on the third rail' myth are relevant here though. A stream of liquid is, over an appreciable distance, going to disperse into droplets. A stream of seperate droplets can't carry a charge, making electrocution impossible.
Actually, they redid that myth and had Adam actually pee on a simulated third rail. As it turns out, you can get a bit of a zap from doing that. :D I'm not sure if you could actually geta lethal dose though...
"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

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T.Neo
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If I recall correctly that was the "peeing on an electrified fence" experiment; the distance from the wire to the urinary meatus was short enough for the stream of urine to stay together and not form droplets, thus forming a channel through which electricity could be conducted.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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lamna
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Still, sounds like to use a weapon like this you'd need to be close enough to the enemy you might as well draw your sword and have at them.
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Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
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