5 ms·
Are there any physicists here who might be able to explain whether or not laser weapons would be effective underwater, e.g., mounted on a submarine for point de
by harveywi 10y ago
Are there any physicists here who might be able to explain whether or not laser weapons would be effective underwater, e.g., mounted on a submarine for point defense against torpedos?
What about from LEO or from space? Would the atmospheric layers or other factors affect the operation of a laser weapon possibly fired from space to Earth?
(Most of us are curious about the possibility of sharks with lasers on their heads, but would be strongly discouraged from asking directly.)
- RickSahchez 10y agoYou'll have to pay up to get that answer, bitch. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=M3PrHdnj1UclPkUsMMZgfvHdX1-ssTZ991RLMQX7DHf2mbKJwbh_G9Gi9Qagv3jMZdmAIm https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=M3PrHdnj1UclPkUsMMZgfvH...
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Are there any physicists here who might be able to explain whether or not laser weapons would be effective underwater, e.g., mounted on a submarine for point defense against torpedos? Not a physicist, but as I understand the optimal wavelengths for underwater use would be substantially different than for use it atmosphere, and with similar output effective ranges will be much shorter, but there is no fundamental reason why you can't have underwater laser weapons.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago> there is no fundamental reason why you can't have underwater laser weapons Even at optimal wavelenghts and clean water, seawater absorbs/scatters light so much more strongly than air that underwater laser weapons are pretty much infeasible. The best wavelength is blue-green-ish, but even there you lose 5% intensity per meter (the loss is exponential in distance).
- emiliobumachar 10y agoWater is also pretty good at muffling explosions. If you can take out torpedoes at 30 meters (80% of energy wasted, needs 5x more power), it might still be worth it as a point defence.
- madengr 10y agoI'm not a physicist, an EE, but I saw a conference presentation on underwater LIDAR. Talking with the presenter, the silt is a real issue and severally limits beam quality and range. Sea water is pretty dirty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvPOWjF9nEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvPOWjF9nEM
- marcosdumay 10y agoYour space sharks would have so much better results by simply throwing rocks at they targets that I don't know what they would use the lasers for.