an idea for a plasma weapon

[Requiem ex Inferni]

So we all know that plasma weapons, while awesome, are rather impractical. Energy needs aside, plasma itself doesn't fly very well in an atmosphere. Well, I came up with an idea for a slightly more practical plasma pistol. For convenience's sake, let's say that this design would be created sometime in the distant future, and the tech was available for all of this.

The idea is like this- effectively, it's a type of revolver. The cylinder would hold special "bullets", consisting of a magnetized tungsten core cased in a jacket of deuterium (solid hydrogen isotope). The gun would be operated using mass acceleration technology- using magnetized rails to propel the round down the barrel, which are powered by a cell in the grip and has no moving parts other than the cylinder. However, just inside the breech, a set of micro-lasers would super-heat the deuterium to near-fusion temperatures, converting it into plasma. When propelled down the barrel, the magnetized tungsten would generate a magnetic "toroid" to keep the plasma in it's shape in mid-flight. Upon impact, the plasma would deal it's damage, and the tungsten core would keep going through it's target, dealing additional damage.

In effect, it's more of a "plasma thrower". The tungsten core would be magnetized using some method (I don't exactly know how; I'm not Magneto, I don't know s**t about how magnets work), and would essentially generate it's own magnetic field. The reason for using tungsten is it's high melting point- the highest of any element, meaning that once the hydrogen starts burning, the core would remain intact. Effectively, you'd have the kinetic force of a mass driver weapon, combined with the high heat and electromagnetic properties of plasma. The magnetic field would allow the plasma to fly without air resistance stopping it (the biggest issue with pure plasma weapons), and the sheer velocity of the round would allow it to hit the target before the plasma dissipated. Even if it did (say, if the target is beyond a certain range), the tungsten core would still do serious damage.

So what do you think?  

[Recon_Ninja_985]

wayyy too much effort when bullets work just fine? xp


by that time in the future we'd have advanced soldier exo suits and the dudes would be carrying something like 20mm rifles to defeat other such armors  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

The idea is to take something powerful and enhance it's power. The plasma would simply boost the amount of damage the round does.

Ideally, this would be a future where the ability to generate plasma outside of a fusion reactor exists, but we still aren't able to create pure plasma weaponry that functions in an atmosphere.  

[Fresnel]

Point of order: tungsten isn't magnetic.  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

Fresnel

Point of order: tungsten isn't magnetic.

Aware of this, hence the whole "using some Star Trekish sci-fi process to give it magnetic properties".  

[Das Rabble Rouser]

What about a depleted uranium core that is steel jacketed? The jacketing is magnetic and the DU is so heavy and hard it would have great penetrating ability. Like my p***s.  

[Fresnel]

Requiem in Mortis

Fresnel

Point of order: tungsten isn't magnetic.

Aware of this, hence the whole "using some Star Trekish sci-fi process to give it magnetic properties".

I'm pretty sure it simply can't be done. It's just one of the material properties of the element. Although it must be noted that iron is magnetic, and while yes, it does have a far lower melting point, you know how an RPG warhead works, yes? The lance of molten copper? Think that, except iron. Also, I'm pretty sure that plasma is hot enough to vaporize most metals anyway.  

[spoonz mcdoogle]

Recon_Ninja_985

wayyy too much effort when bullets work just fine? xp


by that time in the future we'd have advanced soldier exo suits and the dudes would be carrying something like 20mm rifles to defeat other such armors

^this.
I think we'd be much better off with some kind of laser type weapon as opposed to plasma..  

[Fresnel]

spoonz mcdoogle

Recon_Ninja_985

wayyy too much effort when bullets work just fine? xp


by that time in the future we'd have advanced soldier exo suits and the dudes would be carrying something like 20mm rifles to defeat other such armors

^this.
I think we'd be much better off with some kind of laser type weapon as opposed to plasma..

The funny part is, if you use a whatever-color laser and clothe your army in the same color uniform, friendly fire incidents will become quite difficult, as you'd have to shoot someone in the head to cause harm to them. And this will also work in colors outside the visual spectrum, too.