Raygun

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This article is about fictional weapons. For other meanings, see Raygun (disambiguation). See Directed-energy weapon for various real weapons which are similar to rayguns.
A stereotypical raygun as shown in a 1955 patent application for a toy.

Rayguns are a type of directed-energy weapon. They are a classic and widespread feature of science fiction. Types of raygun have various names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, etc. They supply the general role of guns in the scenarios of many stories.

Contents

History

A very early example of a raygun is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898).[1] Science fiction as far back as the 1920s depicted death rays. Early science fiction often showed raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning or large electric arcs. Nikola Tesla's attempts at developing directed-energy weapons, or "death rays", also fueled the imagination of many writers.

After the invention of the laser in 1960, it briefly became the death ray of choice for science fiction writers. For instance, characters in the Lost in Space TV series (1965–1968) and in the Star Trek pilot episode The Cage (1964) carried handheld laser weapons.[2]

By the late 1960s and 1970s, as the laser's limits as a weapon became evident, rayguns were redubbed "phasers" (in Star Trek), "blasters" (Star Wars), "pulse rifles" and so forth.

Types

The ray fired is usually stated to be one of the following:

Function

Ray guns as shown in science fiction do not suffer from the disadvantages that have, so far, made directed-energy weapons largely unpractical as weapons in real life,[1] requiring a suspension of disbelief from a technologically educated audience:

  • Ray guns draw seemingly limitless power from often unspecified sources.[1] In contrast to their real-world counterparts, the batteries or power plants of even handheld weapons are minute, durable and do not appear to require frequent recharging.[1]
  • Ray guns in movies are often shown as shooting discrete pulses of energy visible from off-axis, traveling slowly enough for the eye to follow them, or even for the target to evade them[1], although real-life laser light is invisible from off-axis and travels at the speed of light. This effect could sometimes be attributed to the beam heating atmosphere that it was passing through.[citation needed]

Some of the effects are what would be expected from a powerful directed-energy beam, if it could be generated in reality:

  • Ray guns are often shown as transmitting heat, as with Wells' heat rays.[1]
  • Ray guns may be used to cut through hard materials like a blowtorch.[1]

But sometimes not:

  • In movies, rays are often depicted as taking effect instantaneously, with a split-second touch of the beam sufficing for the intended purpose.[1] Raygun victims are generally killed instantaneously, often – as in the Star Wars films – without showing visible wounds or even holes in their clothing.[1] Stories in text are sometimes more realistic, with details such as "... he fell with his chest charred open."
  • Some rayguns cause their targets to disappear ("de-materialize", or evaporate) entirely, personal equipment and all.
  • Occasionally a raygun is shown as transmitting cold, as with the "freeze rays" in the TV series Batman (1966–1968) and Underdog (1964–1970).[1]
  • Visible barrel recoil.[citation needed] This would only happen if the momentum of the beam is comparable to that of a bullet fired from a gun.
  • A wide range of non-lethal functions as determined by the requirements of the story: for instance, they may stun, paralyze or knock down a target, much like modern electroshock weapons.[1]

Ultimately, rayguns have whatever properties are required for their dramatic purpose. They bear little resemblance to real-world directed-energy weapons, even if they are given the names of existing technologies such as lasers, masers, or particle beams.[1] This can be compared with real-type firearms as commonly depicted in action movies, as tending to infallibly hit whatever they are aimed at and seldom running out of ammunition.[3]

"FX-Ray laser" in American science fiction and animation is a humorous name for a raygun that fires a visible beam: FX is the show biz term for special effects.[citation needed]

Rayguns under their various names come in various sizes and forms: pistol; two-handed (often called a rifle); mounted on a vehicle; artillery-sized mounted on a spaceship or space base or asteroid or planet. The pistol form is seen most often.[citation needed]

Rayguns are a great variety of shapes and sizes, according to the imagination of the story writers and movie prop makers. Most pistol rayguns have a conventional grip and trigger,[citation needed] but some (e.g. Next Generation phasers) do not. The shapes of some rayguns are influenced by an opinion that they look most effective and weapon-like if they look somewhat like real guns; others, such as these, are not:

V-Gun from the Gundam scenario: industrial look

"Plasma blaster": nuclear laboratory equipment look

Sometimes the end of the barrel expands into a shield, as if to protect the user from back-flash from the emitted beam; sometimes in humorous literature this shield is absurdly big.

Types of raygun

The following is a partial list of notable rayguns or types of rayguns.

Real

  • Electrolasers, electroshock weapons in which current is sent along a electrically conductive laser-induced plasma channel, are depicted as rayguns in many works of fiction.

Fictional

Some fictional makes of raygun

 It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled List of rayguns. (Discuss)

See also

Gallery

A typical imaginary raygun

Imaginary raygun, 2 views, with parts labelled

Small artillery sized version of same, in use

Real-world development

Distinguish from

  • The "RayTek laser heat gun" (at [5] call search for heat gun) is a non-contact infrared thermometer, not a gun.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Van Riper, op.cit., p. 46.
  2. ^ Van Riper, A. Bowdoin (2002). Science in popular culture: a reference guide. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 45. ISBN 0-313-31822-0. 
  3. ^ Van Riper, op.cit., p. 47.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raygun"

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