Video Game Weapons in Real Life

[aquatsr]

Video Game Weapons and Their Real-World Counterparts
by, aquatsr

Most items in video games involving combat aren't realistic beyond the capability of point-and-shoot. However, some surprising technology does exist in real life that we've had the pleasure to experience in-game.



Railguns
Found in games like Quake, the real-life version is hardly portable, but it does exist. Railguns are fully-electric guns that accelerate an object along a set of rails, using electrical current. Several divisions of the United States armed forces, along with other militaries around the world have been, and are currently, funding rail-gun technology research. As of January 2008, the U.S. Navy has tested a railgun that fires a projectile at 2,520 m/s, with a potential velocity of 5,800 m/s. For comparison, a typical M16 rifle fires a bullet at 930 m/s. The expected date of completion for this particular project is around 2020 to 2025.

Laser guns
There are a wide variety of laser guns in video games, from short, hand-held lasers in James Bond type games to the shoulder-fired laser in Halo 3. However, none are realistic. For one, lasers require immense cooling to be able to fire that sort of energy over any distance; you'd be as likely to obliterate your own hand as well as your opponent's face. Additionally, lasers tend to dissipate over distance. Despite this, the Boeing corporation along with, that's right, the U.S. military has been testing both surface-to-air and air-to-air lasers, the former being mounted on a truck and the latter on a 747. Successful air-to-air tests were conducted earlier this month, furthering the possibility of a laser-based missile defense system.

Plasma rifles
This one is mostly still in the realm of video games. The problem here is that the plasma generators just aren't feasible to hold in the space of a gun. That, and the closest thing to actually getting plasma is an arc welder.

Lightning guns
After plasma guns you might expect this to be another one of those no-goes in terms of real-life weapons. Actually, this type of weapon does exist, just not in gun form. Once again, the U.S. military has been funding this research. A company called Applied Energetics has been working on directed energy weapons, primarily as a form of Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) counter for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. This system is also supposedly mounted on a truck.

Mechs
Known also as mechanized robots, or giant robots, these exist firmly in the realm of video games. Although scientists and research groups around the world continue to work on robotics, mechanized robots with a human operator inside are nowhere in the foreseeable future. The massive problems of balance and power have made this a science-fiction-only construct. The only successful attempt at a mech has been the T-52 Enryu intended for assisting in rescue operations.

Armor
We're not talking about body armor here, not specifically. This is the type of body-enclosing exoskeleton found in games such as Halo. Surprisingly, this sort of armor does exist. Berkeley Bionics has created a leg-and-back exoskeleton, the ExoHiker, that allows soldiers to carry extremely heavy loads with little-to-no effort. Additionally, Japan’s Tsubuka University developed the HAL5, a full body suit that actually looks like anime power-armor. HAL5 discerns the movements of the wearer and can augment the strength of their movements by up to 10 times the original force. Again, this sort of suit can be adapted to both military and civilian rescue operations.

Sources:
gamesradar
Wikipedia - Railgun
engadget
Office of Naval Research
Wikipedia - Electrolaser
Wikipedia - T-52 Enryu
Cyberdyne

[FOOKz™]

I have made a rail-gun before but only fired it only once. The EMP destroyed my hard drive, ruined my TV next to it and tripped some breakers.

If you have ever stuck a bare wire in a wall outlet before... you know what it looks like after it blows up...

I had 8 65,000uF Capacitors i had collected from microwaves and charged them all up to 25 Volts with my DC power supply for almost full hour. My bullet was shot from two copper pipes or the 'rails' mounted on 1/4" plexi glass connected to a light switch to discharge the capacitors through the rails to shoot it.

It never worked.

[pigoesfar]

Very interesting and infromative.  Thanks for the post.  I can't wait for my lightsaber LULZ...

[aZiZ1]

As its already been stated, very informational and very interesting. A good post indeed.

Thanks

[SN!P3R]

Damn it guys, I need some double A's for my plasma rifle! Anyone got any? LOL

[FOOKz™]

Damn it guys, I need some double A's for my plasma rifle! Anyone got any? LOL

FOR THE WINZ

[robin1989]

awesome and would things like tazers be similar to lightning guns or atleast the baby steps towards it

[FOOKz™]

I know for common fact that it takes about 3000 volts to stretch 1 millimeter of space.

All Of these energy-directed weapons use some sort of capacitors in one form or another because of their ability to be made up of super conductor materials. Capacitors Do not store amperes it stores voltage, capacitors utilize the basic physical law of "opposites attract" the positive plate is really close to the negative plate... the electrons linger around on the plate without crossing over the center which makes them "stored" in the capacitor.

Coils are just the opposite but could potentially amplify a capacitor's storage via a Tank Circuit.

Thats what a coil-gun is... a capacitor discharging through a coil shooting a magnet bullet.

The Lightning Gun is the Same exact thing as a large, high voltage capacitor that discharges through the target. As I said again, it takes about 3000 volts to cross per millimeter of air gap.

Halo Armor is beast dude. I Swear master chief has a mini nuclear reactor to power his armor.

EDIT: I am pretty much an expert in electronics physics so im cool with complicated questions.

[aZiZ1]

Damn it guys, I need some double A's for my plasma rifle! Anyone got any? LOL

LOL

[robin1989]

so  how would i go about making my own capacitor gun that will shoot like 2 meteres

[FOOKz™]

To Make a Capacitor Gun...
You need:

 - Money
 - A Warehouse
 - More Money


To shoot a lightning bolt 2 meters (appx. 6ft) its better to make a Tesla Coil Which will still be friggin huge...

In every CRT TV there is a flyback transformer...

You need a much much bigger one of those to generate high voltages. Normal flyback transformers produce 20KV and only go a few millimeters.

[ryan0]

Mechs
Known also as mechanized robots, or giant robots, these exist firmly in the realm of video games. Although scientists and research groups around the world continue to work on robotics, mechanized robots with a human operator inside are nowhere in the foreseeable future. The massive problems of balance and power have made this a science-fiction-only construct. The only successful attempt at a mech has been the T-52 Enryu intended for assisting in rescue operations.

orly?

The "Real" Iron Man!

give it a few years,they'll have a big massive one for us to play with

[FOOKz™]

Holy Crap its Master Chief!!1one!1

[aquatsr]

orly?

The "Real" Iron Man!

give it a few years,they'll have a big massive one for us to play with

That's more like the armor I was talking about, but I see what you mean, thanks.

A mech is more like a huge robot you can sit inside of and control, and there are huge power and balance issues associated with that. I'm sure it's possible, just not economical or feasible.

[pigoesfar]

give it a few years,they'll have a big massive one for us to play with

...That's what she said...

[FOOKz™]

give it a few years,they'll have a big massive one for us to play with

...That's what she said...

Honestly

[pigoesfar]

Sorry, I normally am not one to spam, but this was just too good to pass up.  I also didn't want to ruin the effect by annotating my reasoning or justifications

[FOOKz™]

... this was just too good to pass up.

That's what she said?

[acidwow8]

More intense laser gun ah. Ha ha.

[BUDDHA_123]

that is kewl