Energy vs Projectile

[The_Nice_Guy]

As for microgravity combat, there's always the small rocket launcher, or gyrojet cannon. I think it's considered a projectile weapon, right?

The Nice Guy

[Admiral Valdemar]

As for microgravity combat, there's always the small rocket launcher, or gyrojet cannon. I think it's considered a projectile weapon, right?

The Nice Guy

In Zero G I would highly reccomend you use a low recoil weapon like a recoilless rifle or laser lest you want to become space debris.

[Kuroneko]

In Zero G I would highly reccomend you use a low recoil weapon like a recoilless rifle or laser lest you want to become space debris.

How much recoil does a recoilless rifle actually have? IIRC it uses venting from the back to cancel out the force from the projectile, but that it could cancel out the force to negligible levels seems much too optimistic to me.

By my calculation, a laser has recoil of 0.750 pounds per gigawatt of the beam. That's quite miniscule, unless you have a truly horrendous laser.

[Admiral Valdemar]

In Zero G I would highly reccomend you use a low recoil weapon like a recoilless rifle or laser lest you want to become space debris.

How much recoil does a recoilless rifle actually have? IIRC it uses venting from the back to cancel out the force from the projectile, but that it could cancel out the force to negligible levels seems much too optimistic to me.

By my calculation, a laser has recoil of 0.750 pounds per gigawatt of the beam. That's quite miniscule, unless you have a truly horrendous laser.

If you're carrying a several gigaWatt laser rifle around in micro gravity then there are probably bigger problems to contend with.

[Kuroneko]

If you're carrying a several gigaWatt laser rifle around in micro gravity then there are probably bigger problems to contend with.

Precisely why I said it is very miniscule. I only picked a gigawatt because it comes to almost precisely three-quarters of a pound, a rather easy number to visualize. You can use 7.499e-10lb per watt if you prefer.

[SirNitram]

Lasers in space, always. Superior efficiency, speed, range, and recoil. The only way to beat them is to reach levels of tech where missiles can cross lightsecond ranges effectively.

Nuclear/Antimatter missiles against ground targets. What? I'm supposed to be merciful?

[His Divine Shadow]

Yes, it would.

Said weapon would have to be very poorly designed from the ground up then.
A fast laser pulse should make your flesh fucking explode as if you've been hit with a large callibre bullet, and then another rapid pulse comes making your innards explode and thats FATALITY

[His Divine Shadow]

I see: a Powerful laser can be very nasty. What we need now is a good portable power supply.

Polonium-210 rod encased in a 10/89/1% mixture of CO2, N and He, produces lethal blasts of 1.9kW to a target upto 1.5km away. Lasts around 60 days before nuclear decay reduces power significantly.

I want a laser weapon powered with that, or maybe a MASER based one.

[His Divine Shadow]

There's no kickback for a laser.

If by that you mean recoil, then you are wrong. Lasers do have recoil.

Yeah but we're talking MJ range pulses before it'll even be close to that of a modern firearm.

[His Divine Shadow]

In Zero G I would highly reccomend you use a low recoil weapon like a recoilless rifle or laser lest you want to become space debris.

How much recoil does a recoilless rifle actually have? IIRC it uses venting from the back to cancel out the force from the projectile, but that it could cancel out the force to negligible levels seems much too optimistic to me.

By my calculation, a laser has recoil of 0.750 pounds per gigawatt of the beam. That's quite miniscule, unless you have a truly horrendous laser.

Pimp mode, this is just what my calculator is for:
http://www.hisdivineshadow.com/misc/massless.asp

[His Divine Shadow]

Hey wait a minute, stavatti, isn't that the joke company that talks about fighting aliens?

[Kuroneko]

By my calculation, a laser has recoil of 0.750 pounds per gigawatt of the beam. That's quite miniscule, unless you have a truly horrendous laser.

Pimp mode, this is just what my calculator is for:
http://www.hisdivineshadow.com/misc/massless.asp

Nice, though with such a simple calculation (Power(W)/Lighspeed(c) = Force(N)), a script isn't truly necessary. A script that calculates velocity from kinetic energy and vice versa for particular particles would be nice, since it is annoying to look up their masses, not to mention a fairly ugly formula. E.g., v = sqrt(1-1/(K/(mc^2)+1)^2); a proton has mass 938.28 MeV/c^2 and electron 0.5100 MeV/c^2 (so K would obviously be in MeV also). Actually, the recoil of a particle beam would be even better.

[His Divine Shadow]

Nice, though with such a simple calculation (Power(W)/Lighspeed(c) = Force(N)), a script isn't truly necessary

But easy, and so I made it, because I could.

And I believe my formula is (Energy(J)/Lighspeed(c) = Force(kg·m/s))

Isn't one of these wrong then? Since I believe kg·m/s and newtons are different, 1kg·m/s I think is 9.8 Newtons

[Admiral Valdemar]

Hey wait a minute, stavatti, isn't that the joke company that talks about fighting aliens?

Well done.

[His Divine Shadow]

Hey wait a minute, stavatti, isn't that the joke company that talks about fighting aliens?

Well done.

You sir are a real Robert Scott Andersson

[Admiral Valdemar]

Hey wait a minute, stavatti, isn't that the joke company that talks about fighting aliens?

Well done.

You sir are a real Robert Scott Andersson

That's quite a big insult for such a small prank. If it's any consolation, it fooled me at first too.

I want a real TIS-1 though.

[Kuroneko]

And I believe my formula is (Energy(J)/Lighspeed(c) = Force(kg·m/s))
Isn't one of these wrong then? Since I believe kg·m/s and newtons are different, 1kg·m/s I think is 9.8 Newtons

Yes, your formula is correct in as much as it gives the result in kg·m/s. That, however, is not a measure of force, but a measure of momentum. Hence, your calculation is correct in being a 'momentum calculator', which is what you advertise it as on the page. However, recall that F = ma, hence force is in kg·m/s^2, acceleration being in meters per second per second.

The condition that that laser puts out the given amount of energy in a one second pulse is therefore superfluous. All that's important for momentum is the energy of the pulse, not its duration.

Edit: I almost forgot: 1G (Earth gravity) is the acceleration of 9.8 N/kg, i.e. 9.8 m/s^2, which is where you're getting this number from.