Will high-powered portable lazers replace guns as the main weapon for criminals and for self-defense?
What comes after guns /sci/ ?
>>7713125
Yes. Weapons that slowly burn tiny holes instead of imparting force and that can be easily reflected are going to replace guns.
>>7713136
>high-powered portable lazers
Think of a lazer pen that can burn a hole in cement instantly, or chop a man in half in one swift movement.
If nuclear fusion is ever miniaturized to the point of being able to be used in vehicles, we might see tanks that use laser or directed microwave weapons at extremely high levels of power, capable to near-instantly melting anything that they can see, which would have advantages in direct engagements but be useless in indirect ones.
>>7713141
nigger the energy density of the power source would have to be absolutely insane for a device like that to work, do you have any idea how much energy it takes to punch a laser into concrete any substantial distance? Do you understand that the waste heat would boil the blood of your hand instantly after firing it?
>subtle lightsaber thread
>>7713147
>b-but we can't make that using our current technology!
autism.
>>7713141
That's not possible. Lasers don't magically remove matter from existence. Once they start to burn the burnt matter blocks the lazer. They are not good at cutting large pieces flesh.
>>7713153
>the technology doesn't exist yet so let's make shit up!
>>7713153
Propose a technology for holding that amount of energy in that small of a space and using it. The only one I can think of is fusion, but that shit is hard anon. It will likely never be possible to make a fusion reactor that small, given the challenge we have in getting the reaction going with 1000 ton machines full of superconductors and lasers and shit. a fusion reactor that's 10 feet long would be a miracle of brilliant engineering, one 3 inches long is so out of our league that it's centuries away if it ever exists.
>>7713169
No, it literally is not possible to have something that high energy in that small of a space. Holy shit.
EMPs, low voltage electric mini bombs, electric dart guns, body armour couldn't stop what I'm thinking of.
>>7713167
its a matter of heat flux on the surface of whatever youre firing your lasers at. say 1 MW/m^2
that will fuck shit up. with even as large as a 1 cm^2 target area, that only requires a 100 W power source
>>7713169
Literally centuries if not millennia away technologically.
>>7713178
>it literally is not possible to have something that high energy in that small of a space
prove that mathematically
>>7713182
>Literally centuries away
literally a drop in the bucket
>>7713169
The source'd get just as hot as its emission.
>>7713194
Not to mention the inconstructable battery.
>>7713180
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrJUbeuG44
This is a 40W laser "shotgun". Notice the massive heat sink. Note that while it can singe things quite well, it's not going to come close to out-performing a gun, which can do things like shoot through white colored walls quickly and which doesn't have a chance of fucking the user's eyes up from reflections.
It's cool, but it's a toy. and you want to cram all that,but with at least two and a half times as much wattage into something the size of a pen, without dealing with the heat issues or how it's powered?
The only way I could see this working might be if you figured out how do very potent wireless power transmission to the laser, but the heat issue would still be fucking terrible.
>>7713125
Undetectable, silent, water based projectiles hidden under our wrists that use a set of mechanisms to fire.
>>7713198
the beam area is largely important when talking about heat flux. and the power source can be mounted on the user like a camelback. dissipating 100 W or more is nothing if you know anything about heat transfer
>>7713210
Reflective body armor.
>>7713210
and if we're talking home defense you could easily power something with a diesel generator capable of 10+ MW/m^2 that would fuck you. thats higher than the first wall of ITER is designed to handle
>>7713210
>and the power source can be mounted on the user like a camelback
You moved the goalposts from a tiny laser pen to a much bigger system incorporating a backback power source, but alright,yes, if you mount an external power system on the back and also some kind of heat management, then sure, it's much more easily done that a self-contained pen laser thing. Who could disagree with that?
>>7713220
>high-powered portable lazers
i never moved the goalposts, thats exactly what the OP specified. you had this idea of some pen-sized power source that you chose to limit your options with
>>7713180
You know what would also fuck shit up except 100x easier. A 7 gram piece of lead traveling at 2,000 feet per second
>>7713169
In addition to everything else everyone has mentioned the laser would go through them and everything else behind them light dont stop nigga.*
>>7713125
Guns will rule supreme for a long long time. The projectiles may change, the means of propelling the projectiles may change, but projectile based weapons are here to stay.
Maybe with room temperature superconductors we will get rail-guns.
guns will be replaced by lazers soon enough, it's pretty obvious
>>7713228
Holy shit anon, that's a good 14000000 foot gram feet per second squared of energy right there
