Okay, this is going to seem completely crazy but I’ve been thinking about this ever since I was a kid! Hopefully some of you have read my pke thread about a working pke meter. It’s still just a theory and lacks any scientific proof but I had fun with it.
What I want to know is, does anyone have any theories for a working proton pack?! Now, obviously we can’t build a nuclear accelerator that would fit on our backs. But, I was always thinking it would have something to do with ions. A positively charged ion has one less electron than normal giving it a positive charge so technically… there’s an extra proton in there.
Maybe I’m just delerious from glue fumes while working on my “toy” pack but I thought we could have some fun kicking this idea around?
Funny you mention this.
When my friend and I were brain storming my home made light kit, we started to talk about how the pack could be made to work. Him being an Engineer and myself being a major in Sciences, it turned into a few hours of sketches and theory’s and debates. We even looked into Greg’s ‘pack physics’ page to see if it all made sense.
Your take on it (Now, obviously we can’t build a nuclear accelerator that would fit on our backs) is what we agreed upon as well.
Without getting into much detail yet, we pretty much concluded that yes, you can build a backpack size device that will discharge positively charged ions in a relatively controlled manner. But alas, there would be no visible ‘proton stream’ coming out of the tip, and it would not be a thin streamer much past a few incches from the discharge point.
Also, better wear your insulated boots, because if the user is grounded in any way, guess where that positive energy is going to flow through first!
Let the debates begin.
Cam
First of all, where is this Pack Physics page? I’d like to check that out.
Second, I’m glad to see someone else has thought about this.
I understand what you’re saying about the dissipation problem and I had a theory.
Could you use a stream of air to spread the ions? Now I know air dissipates too… UNLESS, you create a vortex for it to travel. Like this device here…
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/60b6/
Now I know that’s a really big toy but I’m wondering if the concept could be used on a smaller scale? The vortex created from that toy can travel up to 20 feet!
What do you think?
THe pack physics page is here:
http://www.gbdetroit.com/PackPhysics1.html
Pure fiction, but pretty cool theory!
The air vortex idea would work well if you could get say a mini turbine in the gun wand, it could rotate the air and the ions at the same time - so even when the air dissipates, the ions - in theory - could continue spinning and flying in the desired direction.
Another option we thought of was the ‘stun gun’ theory. Have something like a stun gun set up that shoots out a small barb attatched to a fine steel wire and have it very slightly negatively charged. The positive ions should follow it like a train riding on a track until they reach a stronger negative charge (the ghost). Having several mounted tips is key, since the ghosts aren’t going to stay still for very long, and once you shoot it and miss, you’ll need to eject the spent tip and wire and be ready to shoot another one out.
The mechanics of these are pretty small and used in every law enforcement stun gun out there. It could all easily fit inside a standard wand housing, and add only a small ‘box’ to the actual tip of the gun.
Since we woudnt be shooting out actual charged positive and negative barbs like the real stun guns, there is no need for any additional trnasformers or converters. The negative charge can come from when the negative ions are separated from the positive ones in the pack - essentially recycling the ‘waste’. THe charge would just have to be reduced to a level that is just strong enough to have the positive ions follow it, and give way when it reaches a ghost.
Cam
I have no idea on how to make a real proton pack but i have an idea on how to make one appear to be real, i’m not sure if this would actually work but i think you could somehow hook up some thing in your pack to shoot a small stream of smoke out of your gun and then have some colored lazer pins in the tip of your gun spinning so with the smoke you will be able to see the colored stream of light through the air and with the spinning effect make it look like a proton ray.
But then again this is just an idea and i have no idea if it would work.