"Nanotech" Guns

[Battlehymn Republic]

I'm trying to determine if a new sci-fi idea is just a totally non-scientific brain bug or not.

I saw in an ad for Red Faction 2 a few years ago that one of the weapons you can get is a "nanotech" gun. Now, I've heard of nanotechnology being used for all crazy things in sci-fi, but as a projectile you shoot out of a gun? Is that even possible? If so, is there even a point to that?

[tharkûn]

Most likely a brainbug. The thermal capacitance of nano anything is piss. Complex structures being subjected to the pressures and temperatures almost certainly required to get high velocity trajectories will almost certainly reduce complex structures to something more stable and utterly destroy function.

Of course once it impacts the target, what exactly do you need to the nano to due? Eat through the armor, inject the target with magical metal producing machines to assimilate him, or what? Assuming you can't get a micro machine to do the job, or just use something bulk, you'd be far further ahead with a more gentle delivery system or use some type of highly insulated casing that disintegrates on impact.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I have RF2, and the nano-wanking in it is unbelievable! Every time 'nano' is mentioned in describing an object, that object invariably has some SERIOS Shader Abuse® and a really implausible design, but somehow kicks way more ass than equivalent non-nanotech items. I really wish Walmart had RF1 that day, it's way more plausible..

[Battlehymn Republic]

I'm writing a sci-fi story, and I was thinking about having some special class of people (like the men with blue hands) use "nanotech guns". Then I realized that the Red Faction 2 ad that gave me the idea probably just thought up the name because it sounds cool.

Of course once it impacts the target, what exactly do you need to the nano to due? Eat through the armor, inject the target with magical metal producing machines to assimilate him, or what? Assuming you can't get a micro machine to do the job, or just use something bulk,

Wait, are you saying that theoretically, you can shoot a microscopic robot-thing that could penetrate armor and inject someone with something?

[Mr Bean]

I'm trying to determine if a new sci-fi idea is just a totally non-scientific brain bug or not.

I saw in an ad for Red Faction 2 a few years ago that one of the weapons you can get is a "nanotech" gun. Now, I've heard of nanotechnology being used for all crazy things in sci-fi, but as a projectile you shoot out of a gun? Is that even possible? If so, is there even a point to that?

Technicly yes. If one could get some sort of Nano-tech device that fires standard slugs but gets its ammo from any old thing chucked into the clip then I could see it used on primitive worlds or whatnot.


How handy is it to be able to grap any old material open the clip, have it turned into nano-tech soup inside the clip. Then reformed into ammunition for the weapon.

THAT would be handy, expensive, unweildy and prone to breakdowns. But having a gun for backwater worlds that never runs out of ammo as long as you have some scrap metal or dirt aviable? Handy.

[tharkûn]

Bean:

Why on earth would you put that into the clip instead into something external? If you can make the nano-wank produce bullets, why not just have it make filled clips instead. When, not if, it breaks down I'd sure has hell prefer not to have the nano-wank preventing me from reloading.

[Manus Celer Dei]

I'm trying to determine if a new sci-fi idea is just a totally non-scientific brain bug or not.

I saw in an ad for Red Faction 2 a few years ago that one of the weapons you can get is a "nanotech" gun. Now, I've heard of nanotechnology being used for all crazy things in sci-fi, but as a projectile you shoot out of a gun? Is that even possible? If so, is there even a point to that?

Technicly yes. If one could get some sort of Nano-tech device that fires standard slugs but gets its ammo from any old thing chucked into the clip then I could see it used on primitive worlds or whatnot.


How handy is it to be able to grap any old material open the clip, have it turned into nano-tech soup inside the clip. Then reformed into ammunition for the weapon.

THAT would be handy, expensive, unweildy and prone to breakdowns. But having a gun for backwater worlds that never runs out of ammo as long as you have some scrap metal or dirt aviable? Handy.

Wasn't there a similar idea behind the ammo in Deus Ex: Invisible War?

[Nephtys]

That game is a curse. DX2 made it so your crossbow, handgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun, etc all used the same ammo. Because they're 'nanites that turn into bullets'.

Of course, this game also had a cigar-sized anti-city nanite grenade. So they're pretty wanktastical.

[Hawkwings]

ahh, the "nanite detonator" cutscene. I liked that cutscene

[Mr Bean]

Of course, this game also had a cigar-sized anti-city nanite grenade. So they're pretty wanktastical.

Grey soup gernade. Nanites who's only job is to reduce make copies of themsleves from any aviable materials. That would do it and you could fit it into a cigar sized gernade.

Of course considering how looong that would take and how easy it would be to kill those nanites(Hint electricity, Radiation, Liquids) not to mention their acutal speed of spread...

[Admiral Valdemar]

That idea would be better suited to sabotage. In the book Stand On Zanzibar, saboteurs in LA would often use any means necessary to take out railways or roads or buildings by using the likes of thermite to burn tracks of high-explosives. But they also used genetically engineered bacteria usually used to leeching metals from ore like we do today in industry, though instead they would be sprayed on to supporting structures like I-beams for a bridge and left to gnaw away. A nice delayed form of sabotage that deals with itself and little problem from the environment given bacteria define adaptability.

[Chris OFarrell]

That idea would be better suited to sabotage. In the book Stand On Zanzibar, saboteurs in LA would often use any means necessary to take out railways or roads or buildings by using the likes of thermite to burn tracks of high-explosives. But they also used genetically engineered bacteria usually used to leeching metals from ore like we do today in industry, though instead they would be sprayed on to supporting structures like I-beams for a bridge and left to gnaw away. A nice delayed form of sabotage that deals with itself and little problem from the environment given bacteria define adaptability.

Something like that would be useful if you could control them. Like you use an aerosole can to spray some kind of metal destroying nanotechnology over something. Think of spraying a bridge support or something then walking away calmly...then a week later the thing suddenly collapses.

Of course controling it would be hell...

[Nephtys]

Of course, this game also had a cigar-sized anti-city nanite grenade. So they're pretty wanktastical.

Grey soup gernade. Nanites who's only job is to reduce make copies of themsleves from any aviable materials. That would do it and you could fit it into a cigar sized gernade.

Of course considering how looong that would take and how easy it would be to kill those nanites(Hint electricity, Radiation, Liquids) not to mention their acutal speed of spread...

Yeah. That thing. Only, in this case, it spread faster than even a fire would. It was outrunning people, cars, etc. And was escaped only by /helicopter/. That's pretty wanktastical in my book.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Okay, here's my idea for an extravagant, but trying to be not too unrealistic idea for a gun that shoots robots:

For nefarious super secret plans, it's a gun very much like a sniper rifle that shoots a pellet into someone's bloodstream. Inside, the pellet opens and releases micro/nano/smaller than the naked eye -bots, which can be then triggered to do any number of things to the person's body. It has more features than a regular sniper rifle/tranquilizer gun, is hard to trace (presumably), and is special enough for a super secret agency.

Is this too elaborate and too costly an idea for feasability in sci-fi?

[wilfulton]

Okay, here's my idea for an extravagant, but trying to be not too unrealistic idea for a gun that shoots robots:

For nefarious super secret plans, it's a gun very much like a sniper rifle that shoots a pellet into someone's bloodstream. Inside, the pellet opens and releases micro/nano/smaller than the naked eye -bots, which can be then triggered to do any number of things to the person's body. It has more features than a regular sniper rifle/tranquilizer gun, is hard to trace (presumably), and is special enough for a super secret agency.

Is this too elaborate and too costly an idea for feasability in sci-fi?

Way too elaborate, I'd say. Since a bullet is typically thought of as being expendable, it makes sense to make it as simple as possible. Plus, your nano-bullet would take time to actually put the person down if it has to spread out through the person's system to do its job, versus simply cause massive tissue disruption. You'd probably be much better off using a standard issue lead-cored bullet with a copper jacket to take down your opponent through brute force.

If you're thinking of a silenced weapon, the .22 rimfire is the weapon of choice for professional assassins. Cheap, lightweight, comparatively quiet, and it'll do the job. If you're thinking something more subtle, go for poison.

Your idea of them doing any number of things inside a person's body, however, could still be feasible. While I doubt the bullet would, in your case, be the deliver method of choice, it is still possible that you could, say for exacmple, lace your mark's drink with nanobots, and they get inside his body and start doing their stuff. It might be a neat gadget for spying.

[Mal_Reynolds]

Then I realized that the Red Faction 2 ad that gave me the idea probably just thought up the name because it sounds cool.

That's probably all there really is to it. "Nano" is the new "quantum" was the new "bio" was the new "cyber". It's just marketing gimmickry using SF buzzwords that have no practical application even in good fiction.