Re: Laser snipers

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Mon, 17 Sep 2001, Ryan M Gill wrote:

> At 3:09 PM -0400 9/17/01, Chris DeBoe wrote:
> >SG says snipers sometimes carry laser weapons.  However, I recall a
> >discussion in which it was said the x-ray lasers so beloved of my
Traveller
> >characters would hardly be silent/invisible--more like a lightning
bolt.
> >Don't know whether that was accurate, though.
>
> Doesn't have to be visible light. It could be Infrared. X-ray lasers
> I think would be silent however...

Yes/no. It's not the wavelength, it's the enrgy concentration. Enough
energy density (energy going through a small volume of air) will ionise
the air, resulting in a (loud & visible) electric discharge.

> >So, questions for you educated blokes:
> >a. would/could a military laser weapon be invisible/inaudible?  Or
would it
> >be useless to snipers due to signature?  (assumes a standard Earth
> >atmosphere with no unusual components)
>
> It should be nearly inaudible. Visible to the right sensors though.

See above. But for blinding, a much lower energy density is required.

> >b. in a zero gee environment, would lasers have *no* recoil?  This
doesn't
> >seem logical because we've talked about a lasers as a ship drive, so
there
> >has to be some recoil....but how much?  Either as compared to a
rifle, or in
> >SI units.
>
> Why not? Laser drives lase a specific material exciting it to a
> higher state and expending mass to a degree I think....

I'd have to check, but I as far as I recall atoms get excited to a
higher
levbel and fall back with the emission of a photon. Dimensions of the
lasing cavity dictate an in-phase monochromatic light. I do not recall
any
loss of mass.

Cheers,

   Derk
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.75-6

iD8DBQE7pmLJJXH58oo6ncURAl+TAJ4uTyjM5+aLL/31nRNQeUVwhm+UTwCfd80p
tfivfYplXrOfFpyBb8XBg3A=
=u342
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----