The Physics of Starship Battles UPGRADED AND REMASTERED: Lasers and Kinetic Energy

[Virgil0211]

I had a thought about the lasers and how the high-powered ones wouldn't be visible. It might be stretching a bit, but I recently saw a documentary about the first machine guns and automatic weapons. They decided to add in 'tracer' rounds that would light up in order to help the soldier line up their shots more effectively. One might retcon this into various sci-fi settings, saying that two lasers are being fired (the damaging invisible one plus the lower-energy 'tracer' one.). That work? :-P

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Virgil0211 Sure it'd work. No different than using a red laser for a sniper rifle. Work just fine

[Crusnik2000]

Spreadingthemuse, What's the possibility of developing Deflector shields? Is it possible or are we better off sticking with heavy armor plating?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Crusnik2000 I (kinda) address shields in the movie that'll be uploaded in a day or so. I mention them insofar as they're one of the things we havent the foggiest idea how to do yet. So for now we're stuck with heavy armor ;(

[Crusnik2000]

Spreadingthemuse what is your Favorate Scifi Series?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@Crusnik2000 I'm a finicky sucker. It usually rests with watchever I'm watching at the moment. I've got Dr Who on DVD now, so I guess thats it. But I wish Battlestar 78 had gotten 2 seasons. I wish Firefly had gotten 1. B5 got me hot and bothered in the day, but I have two Trek uniforms hanging in my closet.

I just got done making a Harry Dresden outfit (if you read modern fantasy), so make sense of that.

[RickMojave]

Is it more destructive to shoot a brighter laser of many lower-frequency photons or a dimmer laser of less higher-frequency photons (both composed of the same amount of energy)? In other words, is quantity or quality more destructive?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@RickMojave The E=hf is on a photon to photon basis. If you hook up bigger batteries to one of them to give it an unfair power advantage then you screw up everything. By and large, I'd go with whatever had the higher power. But the destruction depends. Lower frequency cant penetrate skin (like infrared), whereas high frequency can (Xray). Burn some skin or slice thru? You be the judge.

[YouthFreedomFighters]

A blue laser might have more energy than a red laser but it also takes more energy to produce a blue laser, so it all evens out. A laser of 100W is a laser of 100W and it doesn't matter if its red, yellow, green, blue, or violet.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@YouthFreedomFighters But if energy going in is no object, then E = hf applies. There's no reason that equation to even exist if all the colors were identical. They're not.

[YouthFreedomFighters]

@SpreadingtheMuse Energy going in is always an object. You only have so much energy. If you're using the same source, you aren't going to get more power out of a blue laser than a red laser. You don't get more bang for your buck with the blue laser. And from what I know some of the most powerful lasers that we use are infrared.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@YouthFreedomFighters Watts in = Photons out. But all photons are not equal. Thats the whole reason that equation exists in the first place. Is the equation wrong?

And the most powerful laser is not infrared, its Xray, on the Purple side of the spectrum

[YouthFreedomFighters]

@SpreadingtheMuse So another words, if I've got an X amount of energy and I put it through a red laser device, I would get less power than if I was to put that same X amount of energy through a blue laser device. That would seem to violate the law of conservation, that from an X amount of energy you can only get an X amount of energy, not more or less.

[YouthFreedomFighters]

@SpreadingtheMuse From what I know the most powerful laser we have now is in the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in CA, Im not sure if it is in the Xray range, but some of the more powerful lasers that we use, such as the COIL which is used in airplanes to shoot down missiles is infrared.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@YouthFreedomFighters Those are the most powerful that WE HAVE, not the same thing as most powerful that can exist. On a photon to photon measurement, Xrays pack more punch. Thats reason they can penetrate your skin and infrared cant.

[YouthFreedomFighters]

@SpreadingtheMuse I see, well I made a video called "SciFi Laser Weapons" where I inquire about that a bit, and the video is also a tribute to you and your videos.

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@YouthFreedomFighters Ill give it a whirl of course ;) Always like watching laser movies

[TheOneSourceOfTruth]

nice nice!!!

[shanedk]

I just used the Kinetic Energy Calculator at WolframAlfa to determine that, if you can accelerate your mass to about 30% the speed of light, every kilogram of mass you have will be the equivalent of 1 megaton of TNT. You could make a Hiroshima bomb with change for a dollar!

[sparrowlt]

@shanedk Actually if i dont renember bad..i think it was from 5000km/h any given mass carries more kinetic energy than the same mass of the most powerfull conventional explosive avalaible

[spartan463]

damn watching all these videos, makes me kinda wish I took physics back in high school, especially since i understand much of it now. Thanks for making these

[TheoRyne]

Ah you fixed the sound! awesome!

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@TheoRyne

Yeap ;) If I fixed the sound on anything, it had to be this one ;)

[LordKorloros]

I like how this guy explains stuff without insulting anybody, whatever that logical fallacy is called.

[EnigmaHood]

Great to have this remastered! But how about new episodes?!

[hayden50]

hey Bernard, when is your book coming out ?

[SpreadingtheMuse]

@hayden50 A LONG time from now ;)

In the last year I was able to pound out over 200 single spaced pages, but there's a long way to go. I took time off to make the EMP vid to clear my head. It worked and I have more ideas now, but I also know what the next movie will be and I have to make time for that too ;)

[Miryr]

He's back! Awesome, good to have you back.

[f4llenSk4ter]

CONGRATES STM!!!!

[AstralDragoon]

I understand that a particle beam consists of atomic particles accelerated to the speed of light, but I have two questions: how do you make such a large number of particles available to launch, and how do you accelerate them so violently?

[EnigmaHood]

@AstralDragoon It's not accelerated to the speed of light, that's impossible, just close to it. Accelerating the particles requires something like a particle accelerator.

[HongPong]

every permutation of "PEW PEW" u could want :D

[dalekmun2010]

FIRST, And 3 Years later...