Re: Laser Weapons

I was watching a TV show a couple of years ago. (science show)

They had a segment about a laser in a labratory somewhere.
I remember the narrator saying something like:
  "When those lasers in sci-fi shows exploded on things, they had the
science
right...."
(something about the extreamly rapid heating of the target material,
would
cause some
 of the material to "explode" away from the spot.)

Donald Hosford

John Crimmins wrote:

> At 08:11 PM 1/28/02 -0500, you wrote:
> >I can buy a laser as an anti-tank weapon.  I really have to
> >suspend disbelief in the anti-creature category.  The massive
> >energy required is much better used throwing small pieces of
> >mass at your opponent or prey.
>
> I remember reading something from Walter John Williams about this. 
Lemme
> see if I can find it....
>
> Here we go: "And forget the business of beam weapons making cauterized
> wounds -- these beam weapons are tuned to the harmonic frequency of
the
> body's water, causing instant steam explosions that blow great bloody
> chunks out of people."  (From his adaptation of his book _Hardwired_
to the
> Cyberpunk RPG.)
>
> Dunno the physics, never claimed to -- I was an English major, by gum!
--
> but would/could this work?  Would the beam have to hit bare flesh
directly?
>
> John Crimmins
> johncrim@voicenet.com