Plasma Weapons, Are they good?

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-12-01 09:07pm

Shinova wrote:Ehem, forget everything I said. Just found some stuff stating what everyone's been saying.

*Jumps off a cliff*

*catches Shinova*

Why are all the cute girls suddenly trying to commit suicide?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-12-01 09:09pm

data_link wrote:
Shinova wrote:Ehem, forget everything I said. Just found some stuff stating what everyone's been saying.

*Jumps off a cliff*
*catches Shinova*

Why are all the cute girls suddenly trying to commit suicide?

That's the third time someone thought I was a girl. The world must be coming to an end.

Unless you were referring to my AV.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2002-12-01 09:09pm

data_link wrote:
Shinova wrote:Ehem, forget everything I said. Just found some stuff stating what everyone's been saying.

*Jumps off a cliff*
*catches Shinova*

Why are all the cute girls suddenly trying to commit suicide?

Maybe it's you. If this keeps happening we'll have to shoot you. And Shinova is (as far as I know) a guy.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2002-12-01 09:13pm

Why don't you give me shinova, eh? I'll take good care of him.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 09:18pm

data_link wrote:
Shinova wrote:Ehem, forget everything I said. Just found some stuff stating what everyone's been saying.

*Jumps off a cliff*
*catches Shinova*

Why are all the cute girls suddenly trying to commit suicide?

How the hell shuld I know? But if they're going to die, Might as well let me bang them first. WHo knows, it might change their mind...

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-12-01 09:22pm

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:
data_link wrote:
Shinova wrote:Ehem, forget everything I said. Just found some stuff stating what everyone's been saying.

*Jumps off a cliff*
*catches Shinova*

Why are all the cute girls suddenly trying to commit suicide?
How the hell shuld I know? But if they're going to die, Might as well let me bang them first. WHo knows, it might change their mind...

Either by avatars or RW, you banging Shinova would be gay sex. And AFAIK, you aren't gay.

And yes, Shinova, I was referring to your av.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 09:25pm

data_link wrote: Either by avatars or RW, you banging Shinova would be gay sex. And AFAIK, you aren't gay.

I meant as in RL suicidal chicks.

*smacks forehead*

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-12-01 09:41pm

Announcement:

Shinova = straight

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 09:48pm

Geesh.

ESB = Straight as well.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2002-12-01 09:52pm

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:
data_link wrote: Either by avatars or RW, you banging Shinova would be gay sex. And AFAIK, you aren't gay.
I meant as in RL suicidal chicks.

*smacks forehead*

Why do I foresee you working at the suicide prevention hotline now?

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 09:54pm

beyond hope wrote:
Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:
data_link wrote: Either by avatars or RW, you banging Shinova would be gay sex. And AFAIK, you aren't gay.
I meant as in RL suicidal chicks.

*smacks forehead*
Why do I foresee you working at the suicide prevention hotline now?

No you don't. In fact, for the next three months of my life I will be learning how to END people's lives.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2002-12-01 10:37pm

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:Geesh.

ESB = Straight as well.

Course. No such thing as a gay hentai tentacle monster

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-12-01 10:41pm

Exonerate wrote:
Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:Geesh.

ESB = Straight as well.
Course. No such thing as a gay hentai tentacle monster

Actually, the evidence suggests that most of them are lesbians.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 10:41pm

Exonerate wrote:
Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:Geesh.

ESB = Straight as well.
Course. No such thing as a gay hentai tentacle monster

Such things do exist...

But they are shunned by the brothers. We usually leave them to go harass underage boys.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2002-12-01 11:22pm

suicidal chicks... gay tentacle monsters... I must have crossed dimensions at some point and found myself in a "Sexy Losers" comic strip.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-12-01 11:24pm

beyond hope wrote:suicidal chicks... gay tentacle monsters... I must have crossed dimensions at some point and found myself in a "Sexy Losers" comic strip.

*Presses Exterminatus Button*

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2002-12-02 01:14am

Shinova wrote:Um, if I recall correctly, a small amount of plasma in Earth's atmosphere would ignite the entire planet's surface. :shock:

You guys are talking about PSEUDO-plasma (or whatever it's called), not REAL plasma, yes?

This was the fear that physicists had waaaaaaaaay back in the '40s, back when nuclear weapons were first being envisioned. They were afraid that one bomb could burn the entire planet. Granted that fear was very unfounded. And yes we're talking real plasma. The same plasma that is created every time you see a bolt of lightning or a nuclear weapon goes off. Hell, those novelty plasma balls you can pick up at Walmart really do generate plasma (inside the ball.)

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2002-12-02 07:44am

What the Hell?

I leave you for 12 hours, and you start talking about sex and tentacles!?
Could everybody get back to topic, please...

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2002-12-02 09:06am

There was a similar fear over fusion bombs: when the Russians tested that 54 megaton monster, the thinking was that the size would keep going up and up until you had gigaton-yield weapons that would just be parked off the coast to drown everyone with a giant tsunami when they were detonated. As a result, there was a conscious effort directed into pushing the size of nuclear warheads smaller and improving the accuracy.

End result? We now have to worry about suitcase nukes, and tacnukes make it *more* likely that someone might use them because the thinking is "it's a small bomb, i can get away with it." Further proof that the one law all governments have in common is the law of unintended consequences.

ClaysGhost · Post by **ClaysGhost** » 2002-12-02 09:39am

The most general definition of plasma is "an assembly of free positive and negative charges". Light-bulbs do not contain plasma - the filament is hot, but it doesn't emit a significant number of photons capable of ionising the atoms of trace gases within the bulb. Strip-lights and variants do contain plasma, created by forcing electric currents through the gas in the tube which ionises the gas and turns it into...an assembly of free positive and negative charges. It's a cold plasma, and emits radiation mainly through recombination (-ve electron recombines with +ve nucleus and emits light in the process).

The plasma in a fusion reactor is very definitely hot, and we'd like it to stay that way as long as possible to make power generation viable. Most of the radiation the hot plasma emits comes from thermal mechanisms, rather than recombination (the temperature is really too high to permit recombination).

Plasma weapons, IMO anyway, are mostly daft. They waste energy on their way to the target by radiating (a lot). The plasma bolts have high thermal energies, hence they expand rapidly, hence they spread energy over a large area very quickly, and so they have rotten ranges compared to a projectile of the same energy. You therefore have to send them at high speed, which is power intensive. They can be controlled to an extent with electric and magnetic fields. Experimental fusion reactors regularly absorb large, fusion-temperature plasmas dispersing after containment of the plasma becomes untenable, and don't turn into a melted pool of junk metal.

Plasmas have a huge range of uses. Providing the glowing blob of death weapon-of-the-week in sci-fi shows probably shouldn't be one of them.