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This is likely very off the wall as it came unbidden and I have no clue as to what might have triggered the thought. However, I had a strong inner sense when I read that paragraph that there is some sort of force, energy or agent that GAINS umph, power, potency as it gets closer to the target. I understand how, Swordmaker, the thermodynamics law would prevent such a reality. Nevertheless, I don't often have that strong an inner sense about something without it eventually proving to have been at least true to a significant degree. Mystifying. Curious. Don't know what it might mean.

This gets into the area of "Perpetual Motion" where you get more out of a system than you put in. It violates the principle of conservation of energy.

However, if we can come up with some kind of directed energy beam that acts as a "catalyst" that releases the inherent energy which already exists within the target, that would be different.

Say, for example, we were to discover a specific wavelength of light that would cause a polymer to instantly release all of its electron bonds. Now THAT would be useful. That could be used on planes with plastics and synthetic skins. Beam them with this wavelength and all of the sudden they have no windscreens, no landing gear, perhaps no wings, because everything made of synthetic polymers have depolymerized. OOPS. Now THAT would be a powerful weapon.

I once owned a 1987 Ford Aerostar van. After about three years of driving it, the leather steering wheel suddenly went soft on me. . . and an orange-brown goo started seeping out of the seam and stitching holes that bound the leather to the wheel. It was icky and a bit oily. I called the dealer who basically said "deal with it," and suggested buying a new steering wheel assembly for $650. I then called Ford's District Manager who was very interested and came to meet me and see the steering wheel. Ford paid me $1000 for that steering wheel and provided a new one to boot with labor. They'd never seen anything like it and wanted to send it to their labs for analysis to learn what happened. The plastic around the steel core had completely depolymerized.

Their lab guys called me to ask questions about what I had noticed when it happened. Did one part go soft before another, etc. I told them it had all gone soft at once, almost instantly.

Their lab guys called me to ask questions about what I had noticed when it happened. Did one part go soft before another, etc. I told them it had all gone soft at once, almost instantly.

LOL, that's funny Swordy.

Thin ‘molecular dissociation’, with several stories above the impact points of planes striking the buildings acting as pile driver ... but even that thirty-five stories above impact point do not crash to the ground because that mass would have ruptured the bathtub.

I’m enjoying most of the conversation, thanks for the ping.