UV applications and future weaponry

[degwin_zabi]

Somewhat lacking in innocence, I know, but I'm slightly curious on what we can make someday, preferably for defense, of course. I know one of the common science fiction types is the energy gun, for lack of a better term, but lately I've been thinking if it's possible to weaponize ultraviolet light. From what I was able to understand from it's Wikipedia article, it can cause skin cancer like melanoma among other things. Thoughts? If anyone wants to talk about any more good things that it can be used for, it's okay, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviol ... ed_effects

[MythSearcher]

Somewhat lacking in innocence, I know, but I'm slightly curious on what we can make someday, preferably for defense, of course. I know one of the common science fiction types is the energy gun, for lack of a better term, but lately I've been thinking if it's possible to weaponize ultraviolet light. From what I was able to understand from it's Wikipedia article, it can cause skin cancer like melanoma among other things. Thoughts? If anyone wants to talk about any more good things that it can be used for, it's okay, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviol ... ed_effects

Why, when you have much more violent weapons like a Gamma ray gun, would you use a less powerful alternative?

BTW, the term laser covers all electro-magnetic wave frequencies other than microwave(which will be called a maser). Originally people wanted to call different frequencies with different names, like Xaser for x-ray(which will still be more powerful than UV) and Graser for gamma ray, but those didn't stick.

Also, UV are used as weapons nowadays, for killing bacteria and other micro-organisms. It can extend the shelf life of fruits and clear the air of mould.

[degwin_zabi]

Well, It's still deadly when used enough and I was thinking it could be used in an explosive device.

I was thinking more on the beam stuff we see in Star Wars, Star Trek, and Transformers among other things.

I admit to thinking of more loopholes in the Antarctic Treaty that Zeon and the Feds would've used when I thought of ultraviolet.

[MythSearcher]

Well, It's still deadly when used enough and I was thinking it could be used in an explosive device.

I was thinking more on the beam stuff we see in Star Wars, Star Trek, and Transformers among other things.

I admit to thinking of more loopholes in the Antarctic Treaty that Zeon and the Feds would've used when I thought of ultraviolet.

X-ray guns and Gamma ray guns will be much more effective.
Consider you are already exposed to a lot of UV from the Sun, and even Sun block lotion can block a signifigant amount of UV out, you don't get much damage from a UV light torch from behind a normal suit and we already have X ray lasers IRL...

[degwin_zabi]

Okay, I see.

[Amion]

I was wandering if someone could direct me to a good source or care to explain the idea of neutrinos as weapons. From what I understand they have something to do with nuclear fusion and are inherently as harmless under normal circumstances as any particle can get.

I *Guiltily* have been making a codex of utterly wild advanced techno magic for the fun of it, and during my searches the different elementary particles came up.

[MythSearcher]

I was wandering if someone could direct me to a good source or care to explain the idea of neutrinos as weapons. From what I understand they have something to do with nuclear fusion and are inherently as harmless under normal circumstances as any particle can get.

I *Guiltily* have been making a codex of utterly wild advanced techno magic for the fun of it, and during my searches the different elementary particles came up.

Neutrinos are harmless because there's so little of it and it is so small that it penetrates most matter without interacting with them.
There were people asking if you can make neutrinos a weapon, but the answer is that if you have to lethal dosage of neutrinos, you are likely next to a star going super nova(no, standing next to an H-bomb won't get you a lethal dosage of neutrinos), so you will die of other causes much quicker than neutrino poisoning.

[degwin_zabi]

From what I understand, neutrinos are more useful for probing the galactic center more than a weapon.

[Seto Kaiba]

From what I understand, neutrinos are more useful for probing the galactic center more than a weapon.

Eh... in terms of more practical applications, the Fermilab accelerator physics laboratory has been experimenting with using neutrino beams for long-distance communication through dense material that wouldn't be RF-permeable (like solid rock) as part of the MINERvA experiment.

(Apparently they've managed to send binary ASCII messages through 780 miles of solid rock.)

[degwin_zabi]

I got it from here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrino# ... c_interest

[degwin_zabi]

I suppose what got me into UV weapons was the fact that in the One Year War, both sides built a Solar weapon. The Earth Federal Solar Flare System and the Zeon Solar Ray Cannon. I was thinking if there's a theory that solar pressure could used for spacecraft propulsion, perhaps there was a hope for a type of missile that contains solar radiation instead of nuclear fuel. It was just a thought.

[Hyakushiki]

Radiation cannot cause an explosion, it is released as a byproduct of another high energy material such as nuclear fuel. Solar radiation is mostly heat and visible light, which doesn't impart enough energy itself to destroy a target and generally considered wasted energy in an explosion, which is why the Solar System mirror array had to be so large to focus enough energy into single area to do any sort of damage. A nuclear warhead does that already but more efficiently.

[degwin_zabi]

Radiation cannot cause an explosion, it is released as a byproduct of another high energy material such as nuclear fuel. Solar radiation is mostly heat and visible light, which doesn't impart enough energy itself to destroy a target and generally considered wasted energy in an explosion, which is why the Solar System mirror array had to be so large to focus enough energy into single area to do any sort of damage. A nuclear warhead does that already but more efficiently.

Maybe. If anyone can help fix/update my theory, that would be appreciated.