• Question: What is better, Star Trek or Star Wars? and How likely are phaser/ laser weapons to become used in front-line warfare and not in games like laser tag.

    Asked by TheHumanEwok to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 11 Nov 2014:


      I’m not going to get involved in a star-trek or star wars discussion! I like both, but both are different!

      Lasers can already cut through metal; computers are made through laser etching, and there have been proposals to weaponise lasers. You can certainly do damage with a laser – I know people who have lost sight in one eye thanks to poor laser safety protocols… (the unofficial motto of laser physicists is “Warning: Do not look at laser with remaining eye”!)

      There are however serious ethical concerns with this, and I don’t think you would find any public facing scientist condoning the use of their science in warfare.

      Incidentally, there was a plan by the United States in the 1970s to 1980s to put lasers on satellites orbiting the earth to shoot down enemy missiles – this was ‘affectionately’ known as the “Star Wars programme”. It is however not clear how real this was – some people suggest that it was a plan that was never meant to happen – instead it was leaked to the enemy (the Soviet Union) to try and bankrupt them as it was deemed to be such an expensive endeavour!

    • Photo: Rebecca Ingle

      Rebecca Ingle answered on 11 Nov 2014:


      Andrew has mentioned just how powerful lasers can be but one thing I see seriously hampering the effectiveness of lasers as a mobile weapon is how much electrical power they consume.

      Converting electricity into laser light is a really inefficient process, depending on what wavelengths of light you want to generate. To make really high powers, you’re going to need a large supply of electricity which might make them not very portable.

      They can be very dangerous though, I watched a laser safety video the other day with an eyeball being melted by a laser beam and paper being set on fire with another but I’m not sure how practical they’d be as a weapon.

      There’s another good laser safety motto I’ve heard: laser safety – you only get two chances!

    • Photo: Laura Schofield

      Laura Schofield answered on 11 Nov 2014:


      I’m steering clear of that debate too! Both great for different reasons! I’m excited for the new Star Wars film though! I think in the far off distance when we have the technology to power lasers they could be used on the front-line but we are a long way off that yet.

    • Photo: Matthew Camilleri

      Matthew Camilleri answered on 11 Nov 2014:


      My fav is Star Wars, but lets forget the movie and talk about the weapons, cos at the end of the day, that is the interesting part of the question.

      As clearly stated by Rebecca, the energy needed would be too high, but if we manage to get fusion going then this should not be a problem, if we can have portable fusion generators then we can have enough energy to power lasers/phasers.

      After this, the second area would be: how powerful is the beam going to be? There are a number of lasers that can cut through metal as if it is a knife going through butter, but is this powerful enough to kill a human? Do you need the laser to cut through flesh in order to maximise damage? If this is the case then one would have to consider civilian casualties, as these can be easily hit with any lasers that are being fired.

      When it comes to phasers their damage blast would have to be controlled. Is it going to be to kill, or to stun? A damage blast too big might be problematic with civilians, too small and the perpetrator might be able to simply stand up and walk away.

    • Photo: Francesca Palombo

      Francesca Palombo answered on 11 Nov 2014:


      I am not a big fan of either but I would say Star Wars. I think we are not very far from seeing such weapons (smartphones were pioneered by movies), although I hope this won’t happen. A laser can do a lot of damage, depending on class and power, and we are already over-risk-assessed for using it in our labs. Hope we won’t need additional permission to, say, use lasers for scientific aims other than warfare!

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