http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sidearmenergy.php

Will we see the day when traditional firearms that use "bullets" as projectiles become obsolete and commercially available energy weapons that serve as sidearms replace them?

This may as well be the electric car thread, repeated.  It all comes down to a suitable power source, and you can't fit enough amperage into a hand-held pistol with today's technology.   Right now, nothing matches the energy density of a dozen or so grains of smokeless powder.

 

 

5 hours ago, 10X said:

This may as well be the electric car thread, repeated.  It all comes down to a suitable power source, and you can't fit enough amperage into a hand-held pistol with today's technology.   Right now, nothing matches the energy density of a dozen or so grains of smokeless powder.

 

I wonder what the Wright brothers would say....

20 minutes ago, Zeke said:

I wonder what the Wright brothers would say....

Maybe something like:   "Look at that, 116 years later and there still isn't anything more practical than fossil fuel for aircraft propulsion."

1 hour ago, 10X said:

Maybe something like:   "Look at that, 116 years later and there still isn't anything more practical than fossil fuel for aircraft propulsion."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft

bamb! Thot bomb

On 2/15/2019 at 4:06 PM, Zeke said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_aircraft

bamb! Thot bomb

From the article:

Power cablesEdit

An electrical power cable may be connected to a ground-based supply, such as an electric generator. At low altitudes this can avoid carrying heavy batteries and was used by the experimental Petróczy-Kármán-Žurovec PKZ-1 observation helicopter of 1917. However such a craft must remain tethered to a ground facility, and the higher it flies, the heavier the weight of cable it must lift with it.

 

That's one big cable you'll need to get from EWR to Orlando.

58 minutes ago, Handyman said:

From the article:

Power cablesEdit

An electrical power cable may be connected to a ground-based supply, such as an electric generator. At low altitudes this can avoid carrying heavy batteries and was used by the experimental Petróczy-Kármán-Žurovec PKZ-1 observation helicopter of 1917. However such a craft must remain tethered to a ground facility, and the higher it flies, the heavier the weight of cable it must lift with it.

 

That's one big cable you'll need to get from EWR to Orlando.

Assault capacity extension chord

On 2/15/2019 at 9:03 AM, 10X said:

This may as well be the electric car thread, repeated.  It all comes down to a suitable power source, and you can't fit enough amperage into a hand-held pistol with today's technology.   Right now, nothing matches the energy density of a dozen or so grains of smokeless powder.

 

I will go beyond that. 

Here are some issues. 

1) Anything laser related has the problem of  being able to blind everyone who looks at the laser firing. This is problematic in terms of finding a manufacturer, or the public use of such a thing. 

2) Anything that zaps you that is no more efficient than powder driving a projectile, and has an energy storage footprint no worse than a current firearm will have batteries that will have to basically be capable of discharging energy like an explosive. Exploding batteries are generally considered not a good thing. 

You will need something incredibly efficient, or to somehow power it via small explosive charges. 

This is where things like electrolasers come in to the picture. The laser bit which sucks just has to ionize the air a bit. Then you zap the target with electricity directed over the ionized air path. You don't have to burn a hole through things instantly and you don't have to impart the energy of a projectile to smash through things. It aint there, may never get there, but of the various options it looks to me like the least tough nut to crack. 

If you mount the laser on a shark, you can power it from their nervous systems electrical impulses