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Can microwave emitters serve as a makeshift home defence weapon?
(sh.itjust.works)
Although many of us have MW ovens, I can name like one Saw movie and one DIY channel that showed it's potential to melt things, and I watch\read a lot of gore and torture on the web. It won't be used in a military context due to how power consumption and short distance make it useless. But in a Home Alone situation it seems promising, especially as a trap because you won't stop anyone with that immidiately.
My qustions are:
- How a breaf exposure is dangerous, and can it be used not to harm but to scare off?
- How it'd be treated legally due to it's weirdness?
- What are general downsides of that, like reflecting it back to the sender or dealing irreversible fatal damage etc?
I'm stupid at basic physics so I'm sure I miss something.
It can. But the inverse square law makes it not as useful as you might think. What you want is a maser.
Microwave radiation isn't ionizing. That's the bad stuff. Once you leave the path of the radiation there will be no lingering effects other than burns you suffered while in the path. Microwave ovens were initially built to REVIVE cryogenically frozen hamsters. FCC questions can depend a lot on what's in your proximity. Urban or suburban environment, be careful. If you're on the back 40 they probably won't care unless you've leased part of the property for a microwave transmitter tower.
I don't think most people will ever have access to a maser under any circumstances. If I am wrong, please let me know.
I wasn't able to find much in the way of maser lethality, but apparently a 15w maser broadcasters can send photos to earth from Mars.
Edit:
I found this scurrilous web page that indicates a $1,500 "Maser rife" can kill 71 cows on a single charge but for some reason people only get knocked unconscious by it.
https://maserbeamrifle.com/
He also admits to what can only be a felony, but idk. Reads like BS to me.
Yes they are still rather experimental and uncommon types of lasers. But proper death Ray material.
Thank you.
I was a bit more interested in if it can accidentially clog the bloodflow in veins or muscles in a limb causing more unpredictable danger, or fry the head (eyes, brain) of a victim for a permanent eyesight or cognitive damage. All from a brief exposure lasting seconds.
No bigger damage than literally cooking the flesh would cause. The radiation is of the size that it interacts with molecules the size of water. Jiggling them and transferring some energy as heat. The radiation itself is largely harmless. And if you are in an area with any telecommunications equipment chances are your are bathed in it at the moment. Any danger from it arises from intensity. Much like light or heat etc. You absolutely could cook internal tissues. And as such it's not a great idea to mess with it if you really don't know what you're doing. That and the Transformers for the cyclotrons are especially dangerous as well as there are some toxic Rare Earth elements in the cyclotron itself that you don't want to mess with. They are honestly all more dangerous than the radiation being emitted.
Damn. You ruined my career as a potential supervillain.
It's not all doom and gloom yet. If you really want to see what a potential science supervillain might look like check out styropyro on YouTube. He has literally played around with cyclotrons their Transformers and much much worse. And has an automated laser turret that he's built on his property. The only thing he's really missing is the tragic back story.
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