Re: Non-lethal protective technologies?

Chuck Kuecker (ckuecker@mcs.net)
Sat, 29 May 1999 16:45:23 -0500

At 10:45 AM 5/29/99 +0200, you wrote:
>
>From:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_342000/342188.stm
>Wednesday, May 12, 1999 Published at 18:11 GMT 19:11 UK
>
> Sci/Tech
>
> Set phasers on stun
>
> The gun is designed to zap its victim with an electric
> current, using a laser to carry the charge along a beam
> of ultraviolet light.
>
> The light particles, called photons, would create a path
> through the air that will be capable of conducting
> electricity up to a distance of about 100 metres (330
> feet).

In order to ionize the air in a column enough to carry a current strong enough to be effective against a person the laser will need to be pretty powerful in its' own right. How are they going to prevent the laser itself from doing harm to the target? Powerful UV lasers make great hole drillers.

>From personal experience with the design of a stun gun of similar nature,
that usd a conductive liquid stream, I think this is a long shot as a useable deterrent.

By the way - where is the return path for the stun beam? If it's through the ground and back into the wielder's body, this could become a very unpopular method of defense.

Chuck Kuecker