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To: Eye of Unk
Its only a matter of time, and not centuries of time before these weapons become a reality.

Not a chance. We haven't even developed a practical electric vehicle, yet.

A man-portable power source capable of generating the energies needed to make something equal to even the common rifle isn't even on the technological radar screen.

18 posted on 10/06/2012 7:31:29 AM PDT by papertyger
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To: papertyger
A man-portable power source capable of generating the energies needed to make something equal to even the common rifle isn't even on the technological radar screen.

I am not so certain. Electrical propulsion is potentially so much more efficient that an electrical equivalent of a 9mm sub-machine gun might be able to run off of lithium ion batteries. Not that there are significant advantages that I can see. I ran the energy numbers once, and if you can convert the electricity to velocity at 80 percent efficiency, you got quite a few shots out of ordinary batteries. It is the conversion process that is difficult, but I can envision a sort of rail gun using electromagnetic shuttles that offset each other.. Guns are a very inefficient heat engine.

23 posted on 10/06/2012 7:06:42 PM PDT by marktwain
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