Re: Wire Obstacles

On Fri, 8 May 1998, John Atkinson wrote:

> So what do you string it on?	Can't tie it to a steel pole, or you'd 
> chop the pole in half.  More so for vegetation and other crap.  IMHO 
> "monomolecular wire" is a cheezy plot device introduced by SciFi (as 
> opposed to SF) writers who havn't done their homework.  Then we have 
> the question as to what idiot you're going to talk into tying it to
our 
> steel pole and how you'll keep him from accidentally removing his own 
> apendages.

I agree. Even ignoring that it may not be feasible to produce at all,
monowire presents problems.

You can think of a way to anchor it (perhaps the wire widens at the 
ends), but then you can attack the anchor points. And the anchor points 
can't be all that flimsy (see below).

As for unanchored wire... if it could cut through (nearly) anything with

a minimal force, it should sink into the ground. Gravity is also a force

and dirt is considerably softer than tank armor.

If there's a minimum force, all you have to do is handle carefully
enough 
(i.e. with less force than the minimum to cut your handling tool).
Unlike 
concertina wire, monowire doesn't get stuck to foliage that much (if it 
can't cut through a random bush, it fails in its primary purpose).

Consider the following: a loop of monowire, with a person with a steel 
prybar and a tree post inside. The guy starts to push on the wire with 
the prybar. What happens?

The wire tightens and the force against the bar and the tree increases. 
With the force the pressure against each item increases. Guess which 
the wire starts cutting first?

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