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Me and my friends were sitting around sipping some iced teas and discussing what would be the best fictional weapons in a zombie apocalypse. This lead to a list being made and unsurprisingly five spots in our top 10 originate from 40k, but while discussing the top spot my contender the plasma pistol didn't seem to have an obvious ammo source so we were wondering what makes it shoot? Is it a batter pack or some kind of internal cell and than could it be recharged?

Plasma weapons use small jars of... mysterious plasma fuel to operate the weapons. The special goop comes in little jars that screw into the weapon. You can see the bottom of the flask sticking out in front of the trigger.

If you look at regular plasma guns, you can see it sticking out the bottom in front of the trigger there as well.

Well plasma cutters today run on electricity (alot of it). So I would assume there is some sort of battery pack (or in the case of Space Marine plasma cannons, a power generator). Also, according to this:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Plasma_gun#.UZhhu8r1wok
There is a hydrogen cartridge that needs to be replaced.
As far as the zombie apocalypse goes, I'd say a lasgun because it can be recharged by tossing it in the fire in a desperate situation. And since most zombies won't be wearing power armour I'd say it would be powerful enough.

Plasma pistols use some unknown substance which most-likely undergoes a chemical reaction within the weapon (causing it to turn the fuel into plasma). From there it is most likely launched like a rail round (via electromagnetic fields).

For these reasons it's actually a TERRIBLE zombie weapon. It requires vast amounts of power, dangerous fuel, and if the electromagnetic field fails in the least the plasma will leak out and likely kill you. It's fine in 40k because of the better armor and such, but for now-a-days the plasma pistol would just...be a super hassle to use.

Sure, but really, if we're talking zombie apocalypse, the best weapon is an eviscerator. We already know that a chainsaw is a premiere anti-zombie weapon. Now imagine that that chainsaw is 12 feet long and can instantly cut through a wall...

 cpyke wrote:
Well plasma cutters today run on electricity (alot of it). So I would assume there is some sort of battery pack (or in the case of Space Marine plasma cannons, a power generator). Also, according to this:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Plasma_gun#.UZhhu8r1wok
There is a hydrogen cartridge that needs to be replaced.
As far as the zombie apocalypse goes, I'd say a lasgun because it can be recharged by tossing it in the fire in a desperate situation. And since most zombies won't be wearing power armour I'd say it would be powerful enough.

According to my handy dandy primer (that I required to carry at all times) one can recharge lasgun packs in many ways including chucking it in a campfire. This compared to assault rifle tier firepower, lightweight, bayonet, optics, easy use, low recoil... well suffice to say I think that it is the best weapon one could summon in a zombie apocalypse.

That's what I was thinking too. A bolter would be great, but how many 0.75 caliber rounds can you carry around with you? Not enough, I can promise you that. When the zombie apocalypse comes along, you won't have supply lines, or factories to replenish your ammo. If you have a lasgun, and can find a magnet and some coils of wire (probably not too hard to do) then you can rig up a generator for your gun and have an almost limitless ammo supply. (But always have a hand weapon just in case).

Oh, and I doubt chemical reactions would be used to generate plasma in a gun. Plasma is when the matter is ionized (the protons and electrons are forced apart by high energy). It would be much more efficient to make it with electricity. I'm not even sure if plasma can be made from chemical reactions in normal conditions. (The sun can do it, but that is a different story).

The energy in plasma that is created today is by electricity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cutting) which would be the way that I would think they would do it in 40k.

The best weapon for zombies in 40k is probably a power sword. Remember you don't want to make a lot of noise. Shuriken catapults are nearly silent IIRC, but finding ammo would be hard depending on where you are. Flamer would be choice, but again ammo.

Plasma would seam a terrible weapon, way overkill, gets hot, with the standard volume of zombies you are going yo blow yourself up quickly.

Plasma weapons need two ingredients, massive batteries, and the plasma itself which is "The stuff of stars" contained in a magnetic chamber. I'm not really sure how it works though, you may need the electric charge just to start the plasma reaction, which then powers itself and maybe charges back the batteries. This is after all the stuff that powers titans and ships of the fleet, its pretty powerful stuff.

Supposedly it works on the principle of nuclear fission like the heat of a sun.

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace, where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees."- They Might Be Giants

So I am supposing that container holds super dense hydrogen. So dense that it needs a magnetic vial to keep it from expanding. A minute amount it moved to the plasma camber and "Lit" by a giant charge of electricity. This now acts like a pilot light to set off future shots and possibly recharge the battery.

Now considering this A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon (5 millilitres) of its material would have a mass over 5×1012 kg or 5,500,000,000 tons. About 900 pyramids of Giza.

The resulting force of gravity is so strong that if an object were to fall from just one meter high it would hit the surface of the neutron star at around 2,000 kilometres per second, or 4.3 million miles per hour.

That is one magical containment flask

That would be my guess as I don't think they have ever really described how it works beyond it shoots Plasma "The stuff of the stars.

How do plasma pistols work?

Miracles. Magic all up in this bitch.

 Andrew1975 wrote:
The best weapon for zombies in 40k is probably a power sword. Remember you don't want to make a lot of noise. Shuriken catapults are nearly silent IIRC, but finding ammo would be hard depending on where you are. Flamer would be choice, but again ammo.

Plasma would seam a terrible weapon, way overkill, gets hot, with the standard volume of zombies you are going yo blow yourself up quickly.

Plasma weapons need two ingredients, massive batteries, and the plasma itself.

I agree with everything except the last point. Plasma isn't an ingredient. It is what is created. The batteries would change the atoms (as lexicanum says, hydrogen, or in the case of plasma cutters today, nitrogen, argon, or oxygen) into plasma.

 cpyke wrote:

 Andrew1975 wrote:
The best weapon for zombies in 40k is probably a power sword. Remember you don't want to make a lot of noise. Shuriken catapults are nearly silent IIRC, but finding ammo would be hard depending on where you are. Flamer would be choice, but again ammo.

Plasma would seam a terrible weapon, way overkill, gets hot, with the standard volume of zombies you are going yo blow yourself up quickly.

Plasma weapons need two ingredients, massive batteries, and the plasma itself.

I agree with everything except the last point. Plasma isn't an ingredient. It is what is created. The batteries would change the atoms (as lexicanum says, hydrogen, or in the case of plasma cutters today, nitrogen, argon, or oxygen) into plasma.

To quick on the draw. Reread my post, maybe it makes more sense now.

Yeah, I doubt you're going to want to worry about your weapon exploding every time you shoot it. Especially in a survival situation.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Miracles. Magic all up in this bitch.

"Mr Commisar, how come your plasma pistol never runs out of ammo?"

"It's powered by my raw faith in the Emperor."

A lasgun would be great for the zombie apocalypse. Light, low recoil, zombies don't wear armor, you can recharge it in a great many ways...very good weapon.

As no-one else has yet said it: Powered by screaming bald men?

Yeah, definately lasguns with a solar charger array. Or some kind of anti-zombie virus

Nobody here gets just how a real gun should work. best gun would, of course, be a lasgun with a laser sight as you get twice the firepower at once! nearly guaranteed to kill then!

Thatguyhsagun wrote:
Nobody here gets just how a real gun should work.

That's a rather broad statement to make considering most of us were simply throwing out jokes.

Lasguns have almost no stopping power, though. Who cares if you have infinite ammo if you need to discharge a whole "clip" just to put a single one down?

It's the same reason a shuriken catapult would make a crappy weapon - zombies don't mind a light shredding.

Errm, considering the jokes above, I'm not sure if this is the right time to go all scientific.

Now I don't know if 40K is working off the same principles, but Plasma itself is simply the next change of state for matter after gas. As has been said it's simply ionised gas particles. Plasma, whilst being in the 'stuff of stars' and very dense (As Andrew1975 stated), doesn't necessarily have to be as dense as star matter. In fact plasma is often formed along wing surfaces of fighter jets where the high speeds compress the air and provide the energy to change state. Plasma itself acts very similar to a flamethrower in that if projected in one direction it 'vents' (Think of a melta-gun. In fact I wouldn't be suprised if a melta-gun used plasma in this way).

The funny thing is that, for all we all wonder at the fantastical weapons/tech of 40K, most of it will be in reach of humanity in the next 30 years or so. For example, plasma weaponry is already being theorised and designed right now (Same for Powered Armour, Lasguns and Bolter rounds - see Gyrojet rounds and the U.S Airforce's YAL-1). The main problems are that the machinery needed to generate plasma is far too large to be 'man-portable' as a weapons system and the method of containing the plasma until it reaches it's target to vent. This is hard to achieve because, as joked about with the 'magical container', the container would need to be either extremely heat resistant, yet shatterable and fragile to explode on impact, or it would need to be held in a magnetic field (which is how plasma is held in most scientific uses) and both types of container would still need to be projected in some manner.

If you overcome those two problems, you'll probably get a Nobel Prize and in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse you'll have a badass weapon!

 Ailaros wrote:
Lasguns have almost no stopping power, though. Who cares if you have infinite ammo if you need to discharge a whole "clip" just to put a single one down?

It's the same reason a shuriken catapult would make a crappy weapon - zombies don't mind a light shredding.

If conventional wisdom holds true then the only way to kill a zombie is a shot to the head. A lasgun is perfectly capable of penetrating an unarmored human skull with a single beam. Happens in the Gaunt's Ghosts books all the time.

 gpfunk wrote:

Thatguyhsagun wrote:
Nobody here gets just how a real gun should work.

That's a rather broad statement to make considering most of us were simply throwing out jokes.

As was I

 Ailaros wrote:
Sure, but really, if we're talking zombie apocalypse, the best weapon is

A Leman Russ Punisher and an ammo train.

I'm honestly surprised no-one has come up with this before - Imperator Titans anyone?

 gpfunk wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:
Lasguns have almost no stopping power, though. Who cares if you have infinite ammo if you need to discharge a whole "clip" just to put a single one down?

It's the same reason a shuriken catapult would make a crappy weapon - zombies don't mind a light shredding.

If conventional wisdom holds true then the only way to kill a zombie is a shot to the head. A lasgun is perfectly capable of penetrating an unarmored human skull with a single beam. Happens in the Gaunt's Ghosts books all the time.

It doesn't take much to take out a brain. a .22 is actually better at brain damage than say a .38. It will penetrate the skull and then bounce around inside. A lasgun should have little problem with basic zombies. Now a spacemarine zombie on the other hand.....

 Melissia wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:
Sure, but really, if we're talking zombie apocalypse, the best weapon is

A Leman Russ Punisher and an ammo train.

Screw headshots, they cant hurt you when they're just jell-o

 Warpig1815 wrote:
I'm honestly surprised no-one has come up with this before - Imperator Titans anyone?

Our list was trying to stick to weapons, a titan is a vehicle. Besides do you know how to pilot a titan?

Autogun.
Fires basic ammo thats common place just about anywhere.
More than enough stopping power for a zombie aswell.

Failing that, heavy stubber.

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Jokes aside, I don't think stopping power is absolutely necessary for a foe that requires a clean headshot to fully put out of commission, sure you might buy yourself some time with weapons that have good stopping power like bolters/LMG/shotguns but the mess they can make can just lead to more energy wasted mopping up the survivors whose disembodied nature could lead to bites or worse for the incautious.

 Jackal wrote:
Autogun.
Fires basic ammo thats common place just about anywhere.
More than enough stopping power for a zombie aswell.

Failing that, heavy stubber.

You're just telling us to get an assault rifle or HMG.

lasgun is an awesome weapon just in a nowaday warzone. remember, there is not very much good armour in circulation, you just need a BLAM! IN THE FACE / BALLS / ARMS / LEGS / ANYTHING BESIDES CHEST AND UPPER BELLY! to kill a sodier. also, big ammo, low recoil, and all the stuff that has been said by you guys before.