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« on: June 01, 2008, 09:59:10 am »
My degree is, indeed, in physics. This has potential to be seriously embarrassing - I know for a fact at least one more Ph D lurks here. Please, please correct me - it has been a while since I've taken relevant classes.
A particle's energy, the sort one gets in an accelerator, is on the order of a MeV - Mega electron Volt. That's an electron accelerated though a field of 1,000,000 Volts. The trouble here is "e" - the charge of an electron - 1.62 x 10^(-19) Coulombs - a very tiny number. Kinetic energy of a *single particle* in Joules is tiny.
By comparison, a 10 g (0.01 kg) bullet traveling at MAC 1 (134 m/s, close enough) has the kinetic energy E = m v^2 / 2 = just under 90 Joules
So, are particle guns doomed? Not quite... First, inside a particle accelerator particles travel in bunches (honest geek term), though I won't hazard a guess of how many (little help, my brethren?) Main point: it ain't the kinetic energy of a particle beam/bunch that kills - at least not by blunt force trauma. A particle beam flies through a target and all the particles have a great chance to hit the atoms that make up a target. Resulting in other particles, more collisions, creation of X-rays and all sorts of radiation. None of the above is healthy for breathing things. Imagine putting Fluffy in front of a strong beam. For starters, Fluffy gets a small-ish hole where the beam passes. I imagine the area around the hole also gets well heated. And if Fluffy is OK with that, the ionization (ripping away of electrons) of most of the tissue will do serious immediate damage to the nerves, and eventual death from radiation sickness.
What makes particle guns not useful as hand-held weapons today is
1) size - As Dr. J pointed out small particle accelerators don't do much (your microwave ain't no rifle) and the strong ones tend to need a very large room at least.
2) absorption by the atmosphere - the particle bunches travel (are stored) in accelerator rings that are pumped down to vacuum. Shoot them in the air and they particles start hitting the air molecules and the beam looses lethality pretty quick.
Applications: best bet is space-borne platforms that shoot particle beams at missiles, damaging them by burning holes and melting the electronics.
Limitations: simple dense cloud cover would be a limiting factor for effectiveness AND space weapon platforms are not too maneuverable, which means would be easy targets. A bit on the expensive side for a disposable weapon.
Sorry for the rent. Please, please check this for unintentional BS. I will do my best to look up details if there is interest.
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