Originally posted by Lucius
Since when do people fire bullets capable of undergoing total conversion into energy? Even antimatter gives you a mixed bag.
It doesn't matter (pun) as he said "ever."
His wording lead (pun) me to believe he was referring to the ceiling limit on how powerful you can make a laser and a mass to energy conversation of a bullet.
That, or he was just joking. awesome
Originally posted by dadudemon
Incorrect.Interstellar matter, stellar bodies (stars, planets, black holes, etc.) (even if minute), would influence both the trajectory and "relative velocity" of each object. Think of all of that as "wind resistance."
The object with the greater momentum would be able to go further in "space."
True, I was ignoring the interstellar medium.
Originally posted by dadudemon
I'd have to look at the numbers, though...as you may be able to produce a laser that puts out more energy, per second, than the energy produced by converting a bullet's mass entirely into energy.
Yeah, but then someone will just build a bigger gun.
The military doesn't want lasers because they're unstoppable death rays, they want a super accurate long range weapon that rarely needs reloading. That's pretty much the only advantage.
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
True, I was ignoring the interstellar medium.
And I was just pontificating as I knew exactly what you meant. 😆
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Yeah, but then someone will just build a bigger gun.The military doesn't want lasers because they're unstoppable death rays, they want a super accurate long range weapon that rarely needs reloading. That's pretty much the only advantage.
That's also true: maybe Blaxican was just getting philosophical about it? (By realizing that there was a maximum build out size for a laser but not one for a gun (making all matter in the universe into a gun)???
4 minutes in if you're bored.
Depends on a lot of things such as the techology level of the alien race.
A Star Wars level civilization could pwn us, but against a Starship Troopers level civilization we may stand a chance (the movie version Starship Troopers has some of the most stupid tactics and strategies I've ever seen in sci fi).