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I was just wondering a few things about sonic weaponry

1. How do sonic weaponry kill? if i remember rightly the force of the weapon ruptured organs and courses brain hemorrhage is that right? If not how dose a sonic weapon kill its target?

2. How effective is sonic weaponry against Astartes compared to a standard bolter?

3.How effective is sonic weaponry against vehicles?

4. How long ranged is sonic weaponry dose it disperse at range like a shot gun shell becoming weaker the further it travels?

Thanks for your time looking forward to your answers.

1: It kills living targets by causing Hydrostatic shock, in the same way that a concussive wave from an explosion kills.

2: Much more effective as it just ignores the armor.

3: Against non-living targets it causes damage via resonance. All material has a specific frequency it vibrates at, if enough energy is pumped in at that specific frequency the object can literally shake itself apart.

4: I imagine it is relativly short ranged and does indeed spread out like a shotgun. The density of the surrounding air/liquid will matter too. Naturally sonic weaponry will be useless in space, and will be more effective in water.

The Adeptus Mechanicus did made the Ordinatus Mars weapon, which had a giant sonic distruptor.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/e/eb/OrdinatusMars.jpg

It kills with the power of awesome.
Ever seen Tenacious D pick of destiny? You know that dream sequence in the bar where that guy's head explodes? Sonic weaponry works exactly like that.

Grey Templar's got the right of it; as an additional note to item 3, find a video of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. That's the sort of thing that happens when you get a structure being vibrated at its resonance frequency.

Here's a youtube link to that bridge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyG68_caV4 skip to 1:10

Now imagine that thing happening in the span of a few seconds.

burnaboy wrote:
2. How effective is sonic weaponry against Astartes compared to a standard bolter?

IIRC, there was a story in the 4ed CSM codex were some sonic weapons burst all the organs in a Space Marine's body and left him flopping on the ground like a fish.

Given that the sonic weapons for the Emperors Children pretty much look like guitars I always picture them strumming mad metal solos which the enemy just cannot handle.

But back on topic they kill with soundwaves. I should imagine that the MKXI power armour will come with sound deadening lol