Uncle Al wrote:
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax wrote:
I once did a calculation for a NG, sci.military.moderated IIRC,
concerning the lethality of the hypothetical weapon given a beam pulse
energy comparable to the muzzle energy of a conventional handgun (about
700J).

The question I could not answer concerned its effect on the user of the
weapon. Would there be enough back scatter from the air at the muzzle
and along the beam path to seriously endanger the health of the firer?

How short is the pulse?

An M16A2 rifle has a muzzle velocity of 2800 ft/sec. The bullet
travels one foot in 0.3571 msec. 700 J in 0.3571 msec is 1.96 MW. The
air would massively ionize. Worry about thermal and UV burns, then
soft x-ray backscatter.

Since we were talking handguns the velocity would be around 1/3 of that
if we stuck to the analogy. However, since we do not have to worry too
much about beam drop (as opposed to bullet drop) the real time to
consider is time on target. Since I doubt anyone could dodge such a beam
lasting 10mS, we now have a power of 70kW. For simplicity we can assume
a beam diameter of 10mm.

--
Dirk

http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
Remote Viewing classes in London