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Scientists in Hong Kong working with Bessel lasers have theorised the possibility of using them as tractor beams to draw an object towards the source of the laser emission.
The beam could work by exploiting the ability of a Bessel laser to 'bend' around an intervening object, utilising possible multiple lasers which have wavelengths that interact with each other behind an object pushing it back towards the emitter. technically from what I read a tractor beam is inherently a crushing beam as the drawing motion is partly counteracted by a pushing motion from the same beam.
While a working tractor beam is no more a reality than a 'working' fusion reactor or a lasgun it is harkening to know that this piece of technology once only of use as a plot device has now moved from soft to hard science fiction.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2011/03/04 14:16:20
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2011/03/04 14:18:51
Subject: Re:Tractor Beams plausible say scientists.
n0t_u wrote:2012 is zombie year, so there's a break from major scientific breakthroughs until it blows over in 2013 and we probably get hoverboards then.
Will be handy for floating over the top of the remaining zombies.
I think they would do both. On the plus side they could use the tractor beams to build tractor beams rather than having to touch and move the parts themselves.
We could use tractor beams to pick up things on other planets or in space. Fire the beam at where a planet 20 light years away will be in 20 years time and grab something on the planet's surface
Also, pull asteroids into orbit around the earth so we can mine them without having to build space tugs to fly out and get them.
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
So, theoretically, if I had one of my eyes replaced by a miniaturized version fo this laser, I could strangle someone by looking at them?
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
Melissia wrote:So, theoretically, if I had one of my eyes replaced by a miniaturized version fo this laser, I could strangle someone by looking at them?
I'd question where'd you'd store the batteries to do such a thing, but gaining the ability to Force Choke people Yarrick style? Yes. Yes it's possible.
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
~Hanlon's Razor
Melissia wrote:So, theoretically, if I had one of my eyes replaced by a miniaturized version fo this laser, I could strangle someone by looking at them?
Melissia, you are a girl.
Your gaze can kill a man 50 paces away if you do the evil-female-stare-o-death. (Patent Pending)
Every Normal Man Must Be Tempted At Times To Spit On His Hands, Hoist That Black Flag, And Begin Slitting Throats.
That only works in Hollywood and Japan, and I live in Texas.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
So, like Yarrick, all women will purchase the eye tractor beam, so that the 'Female Glare of 'Oh Feth, I've Screwed Up Now' will actually become lethal.
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
~Hanlon's Razor
I bet you'd like her to gaze at your package. Repeatedly as it were.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
2011/03/04 22:16:08
Subject: Re:Tractor Beams plausible say scientists.
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
707th Lubyan Aquila Banner Motor Rifle Regiment (6000 pts)
Battlefleet Tomania (2500 pts)
..Wow,I have to get back in the habit of watching that show....if only for the chuckles.
KHADOR 
X-Wing (Empire Strong) 