Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: Nobody's Confidant on 19/10/2007 16:33:33
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Apparently theres some kinda bullet that can go through a wall without leaving a mark. Could this ever be possible?
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Can't be done. Where did you hear about it?
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Perhaps some kind of focussed shock wave. . . ?
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Perhaps some kind of focussed shock wave. . . ?
That's a possibility, but it has nothing to do with nanotechnology.
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But that's a mere detail, where the press are concerned.
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True
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Perhaps some kind of focussed shock wave. . . ?
That did occur to me - but I did not suggest it because the probability that a substantial shock wave would pass through a wall without leaving any damage to the wall (which was one of the criteria) was slight - although it depends on exactly what the wall is made from.
Certainly, some anti-tank weapons have used shock waves to travel through armour, and leaving the outer portions of armour largely untouched, but it will then break off bits of the inside of the armour which then fly around inside the vehicle as shrapnel.
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Apparently theres some kinda bullet that can go through a wall without leaving a mark. Could this ever be possible?
You really mean "bullet" or some form of energy beam, like a neutron beam?
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Apparently theres some kinda bullet that can go through a wall without leaving a mark. Could this ever be possible?
You really mean "bullet" or some form of energy beam, like a neutron beam?
Whatever kind of energy we are talking about, you have to ask how it is going to cause substantial damage to the target without also doing damage to the wall (it may be possible where the wall and the target are made of materials with very different properties - but that would require to qualify the materials used for the wall, and the type of target you are trying to damage).
The other option is some sort of focused weapon that is defocused as it passes through the wall, but only becomes focused on the target behind the wall. Focussed weapons need some sort of focusing system, which is typically quite large. You also have the problem that if you intended to focus on the target, you must have some effective way of accurately location the range of the target, as well as its direction.
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Whatever kind of energy we are talking about, you have to ask how it is going to cause substantial damage to the target without also doing damage to the wall (it may be possible where the wall and the target are made of materials with very different properties - but that would require to qualify the materials used for the wall, and the type of target you are trying to damage).
But I think you know that neutron bombs kill people inside houses without destroying the houses. Do you remember Jimmy Carter's ideas about it?
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Whatever kind of energy we are talking about, you have to ask how it is going to cause substantial damage to the target without also doing damage to the wall (it may be possible where the wall and the target are made of materials with very different properties - but that would require to qualify the materials used for the wall, and the type of target you are trying to damage).
But I think you know that neutron bombs kill people inside houses without destroying the houses. Do you remember Jimmy Carter's ideas about it?
I don't think that invalidates what I said. The specific issue about neutron bombs is that it is targeted at relatively unprotected humans (either out in the open, or within thin skinned buildings), so it still holds true that you have to clearly identify the type of target, and the type of wall (it is not a generic weapon for destroying anything behind any type of wall). Incidentally, poison gas will do the job just as well.
Besides that, I rather suspect that the high neutron radiation would not leave buildings as undamaged as all that. At very least, it would very possibly leave the building radioactive (thus, even though they may still be standing, they may be uninhabitable), and could cause weakness to steel structures.
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I don't think that invalidates what I said. The specific issue about neutron bombs is that it is targeted at relatively unprotected humans (either out in the open, or within thin skinned buildings), so it still holds true that you have to clearly identify the type of target, and the type of wall (it is not a generic weapon for destroying anything behind any type of wall). Incidentally, poison gas will do the job just as well.
Besides that, I rather suspect that the high neutron radiation would not leave buildings as undamaged as all that. At very least, it would very possibly leave the building radioactive (thus, even though they may still be standing, they may be uninhabitable), and could cause weakness to steel structures.
I didn't mean to advocate the use of that kind of weapon, I simply intended to answer to the OP question: "..some kinda bullet that can go through a wall without leaving a mark. Could this ever be possible?"