Comparing SG1/Atlantis Beam Weapons

[StargateWatcher]

It may be very difficult to even guess on these, but I was wondering what principles of chemistry and/or physics these different plasma beams from different races work on?

These would be the Ori Plasma Beam, Ancient Satellite Weapon, Asuran Stargate Plasma Emitter, and the
Asgard Plasma Beam.

[StargateMillennium]

They are basically particle accelerators, using electromagnetic fields to accelerate objects at high speeds and maintain their form upon firing so it doesn't just immediately disperse. Expect, they aren't just firing particles but actual matter.

Think of a water cannon (the crowd control type). As distance increases, the more the water spreads out. The accelerator uses electromagnetic fields to keep what it is firing together so it maintains a beam shape. The speed of the beam also depends on the firing mechanism (and it obviously has a higher firing power than a water cannon). And as for the substance, it uses super-heated liquid (like plasma in the aptly named plasma beam).

[thekillman]

Expect, they aren't just firing particles but actual matter.

matter IS made up of particles.

[StargateWatcher]

They are basically particle accelerators, using electromagnetic fields to accelerate objects at high speeds and maintain their form upon firing so it doesn't just immediately disperse. Expect, they aren't just firing particles but actual matter.

Think of a water cannon (the crowd control type). As distance increases, the more the water spreads out. The accelerator uses electromagnetic fields to keep what it is firing together so it maintains a beam shape. The speed of the beam also depends on the firing mechanism (and it obviously has a higher firing power than a water cannon). And as for the substance, it uses super-heated liquid (like plasma in the aptly named plasma beam).

Hi, StargateMillennium! We meet again, outside your story :-). IThanks for taking the time to answer. I was wondering, though, if anyone can differentiate what different chemistry/physics principles each different weapon uses. For example, the Ori beam seems to use brute force (denser plasma I guess) to pierce an enemy vessel's shield. The Asgard Plasma Beam seems to use high heat to pierce the enemy vessel's shield. I don't know about the Ancient Satellite Weapon and the Asuran Stargate weapon though.

[destiny khan]

they are energy based weapons... we really don't know what they are... they might not all be particle accelerators...

and the term "plasma" was only used for asgard weapons and not the rest...

i think the most powerful one was the one by the replicators followed by the ancient satellite beam weapon and then the asgard weapons after that the ori one....

[StargateMillennium]

Hi, StargateMillennium! We meet again, outside your story :-). IThanks for taking the time to answer. I was wondering, though, if anyone can differentiate what different chemistry/physics principles each different weapon uses. For example, the Ori beam seems to use brute force (denser plasma I guess) to pierce an enemy vessel's shield. The Asgard Plasma Beam seems to use high heat to pierce the enemy vessel's shield. I don't know about the Ancient Satellite Weapon and the Asuran Stargate weapon though.

Well, let's see how much fi we can chop off the sci-fi.

There isn't much about the specific schematics of the weapons but we can get a fair amount by assuming they are all accelerators of some sort.

In terms of destructive power, heat, mass, and velocity will be the biggest factors.

Ori and Asgard beams seem to travel at relatively the same speed, so mass, and heat remain. Ori beams are larger, slower firing, and appear to carry more punch per shot. Whether or not ori beams have more mass will be questionable (I'll explain why later).

So, we can assume that ori beams are hotter than Asgard beam (the colors of the beams disagree with me but I tend to disregard color when it comes to scifi or everything would be the same color or have no color at all). This explains their slow rate of fire. They would need to cool the weapon after every shot. This can also explain why they need such a big ship. Hotter things want to expand more. Electromagnetic fields are usually used to keep the stuff together so a more powerful field needs to be generated.

This is why mass is questionable. The beam could be bigger because it also has more mass or it might be because the field just isn't strong enough to condense it any smaller.

The Asgard beams don't have as much firepower but have a faster rate of fire and several of them can be mounted on a smaller ship. If the thing it's firing isn't as heated, then the electromagnetic field doesn't have to be as strong (so it can be smaller), and it doesn't need to take as long to cool (which lets it shoot faster).

The ancient satellite is huge and it's only purpose is to shoot passing things (it doesn't sacrifice room for engines, infirmaries, or hyperdrives). The beam we see it shoot is faster then both ori and Asgard. More velocity means much more stopping power but it also means it needs a more powerful accelerator to get it that fast.

The replicator beam seems to travel just as fast but we can't see the actual gun to make speculations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcS09...tOTq26pLHmLf9w
This is just a video I watch that talks about trying to talk about the science of energy weapons.

[StargateWatcher]

Well, let's see how much fi we can chop off the sci-fi.

There isn't much about the specific schematics of the weapons but we can get a fair amount by assuming they are all accelerators of some sort.

In terms of destructive power, heat, mass, and velocity will be the biggest factors.

Ori and Asgard beams seem to travel at relatively the same speed, so mass, and heat remain. Ori beams are larger, slower firing, and appear to carry more punch per shot. Whether or not ori beams have more mass will be questionable (I'll explain why later).

So, we can assume that ori beams are hotter than Asgard beam (the colors of the beams disagree with me but I tend to disregard color when it comes to scifi or everything would be the same color or have no color at all). This explains their slow rate of fire. They would need to cool the weapon after every shot. This can also explain why they need such a big ship. Hotter things want to expand more. Electromagnetic fields are usually used to keep the stuff together so a more powerful field needs to be generated.

This is why mass is questionable. The beam could be bigger because it also has more mass or it might be because the field just isn't strong enough to condense it any smaller.

The Asgard beams don't have as much firepower but have a faster rate of fire and several of them can be mounted on a smaller ship. If the thing it's firing isn't as heated, then the electromagnetic field doesn't have to be as strong (so it can be smaller), and it doesn't need to take as long to cool (which lets it shoot faster).

The ancient satellite is huge and it's only purpose is to shoot passing things (it doesn't sacrifice room for engines, infirmaries, or hyperdrives). The beam we see it shoot is faster then both ori and Asgard. More velocity means much more stopping power but it also means it needs a more powerful accelerator to get it that fast.

The replicator beam seems to travel just as fast but we can't see the actual gun to make speculations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcS09...tOTq26pLHmLf9w
This is just a video I watch that talks about trying to talk about the science of energy weapons.

Thanks again, Millenium!