Re: OFFICIAL - GZG: Vacuum and zero/low gravity combat…?

There would still be a blast effect, but no shock wave. The blast effect
would be from the expanding gases of the grenade. Although not a
concussive
force, if you're close enough to a grenade while in microgravity and you
survive the fragments (because you have a heavily armoured suit, for
instance) you'd still be pushed away from the blast point by the gases.

This effect could be interesting against anti-gravity vehicles on the
Moon.
Even a non-penetrating hit from an explosive AP round could move it off
course. If you aimed the round low enough, there may even be a chance of
flipping the vehicle. This could be an argument for wide tracked
vehicles
on the moon.

The fragments of a hand grenade would have a greater range, but remember
that they are expanding in a spherical cloud. While there is no
atmosphere
to slow the fragments down, as the cloud expands the number of fragments
per surface area drops by the square of the distance. Modern US M67 hand
grenades have a lethal radius of 5 m and a wound radius of 15 m. Even
so,
they can send fragments out to over 200 m. The chance that a single
fragment will strike you drops off pretty quickly due to the size of the
expanding sphere. Although the concussion effect of a hand grenade is by
no
means pleasant, it's the fragments that do the damage. I would imagine
that
in a vacuum hand grenades would have the same effective radius as they
do
on Earth, with the predominant decider for lethality being the number of
fragments per area as the fragmentation cloud expands.

I would also assume that larger artillery rounds would have less of an
effect in a vacuum as they do more of their damage through concussive
shock
waves. Mines designed to flip vehicles (rather than penetrate them)
might
be a plausible option.

On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 10:35 AM, J L Hilal via Gzg <gzg@firedrake.org>
wrote:

> <de-cloak>
> How about an aerosol mist as an anti-laser defense?
> Grenade fragments will be effective for a greater range, but without
the
> blast wave, one actually has to be hit by the fragments, no effect
> otherwise.
>
> J
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Roger Bell_West <roger@firedrake.org>
> *To:* gzg@firedrake.org
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 2, 2016 7:37 AM
> *Subject:* Re: OFFICIAL - GZG: Vacuum and zero/low gravity combat…?
>
> On Tue, Feb 02, 2016 at 08:15:20AM -0500, andrew apter wrote:
> >Even a bow and arrow will have extended range without atmosphere or
> gravity
>
> "So now, armored against vacuum, our bowmen made that famous raid
> called the Battle of the Meteors. Cloth-yard shafts pierced many a
> Wersgor spacesuit without fire-flash or magnetic force-pulse to give
> away a man's position."
>
> >Clouds of Chaff will hang around for awhile
> >and don't forget about using high energy particle beams.
>
> Neutral particle beams, because charged ones bloom too much. This is
> exactly the opposite of what you want in atmosphere (where the charge
> helps hold the beam together against atmospheric interference),
> another reason to have dedicated space troops with special equipment.
>
>
> R
>
>
>
>

-- 
Allan Goodall		 http://www.hyperbear.com
awgoodall@gmail.com