Could the blasters from Star Wars and other science fiction really work in the real world?
You may be surprised that the answer is, "Yes." With some conditions.
First of all, for them to function like we'd expect from the more realistic descriptions in sci-fi, we wouldn't be talking lasers. A weaponized laser beam, though already in the hands of the US Military, would be effective, but not visible in normal conditions.
To build a real gun that fires visible bursts or bolts of energy, we're talking about plasma railguns. If you've always wondered how this could work, here's the basic science in real life and how it works in my novels.
Plasma may sound exotic, but it actually makes up 99% of our universe. Plasmoids are coherent structures of plasma and magnetic fields. They’re common in Earth’s magnetosphere, and actually cause the aurora, or northern lights.
This sounds cool so far, but on the surface of Earth-like planets, plasmoids from blasters would dissipate well before reaching their target if they themselves were not charged with electrical currents to generate magnetic fields to constrain them in a focused beam or bolt.
In a coaxial setup, the technical name for this arrangement is a spheromak, meaning the plasmoids emitted are shaped like a ring or donut! The United States Air Force produced a coaxial plasma railgun in their MARAUDER project and found it caused “extreme mechanical and thermal shock when hitting their target, as well as producing a pulse of electromagnetic radiation that could scramble electronics.” Other plasma railguns have since been produced in research for various industries.
The other type of plasma railgun is linear. That’s what the blasters are in my novels - linear plasma railguns.
These have two parallel electrodes, rails separated by ceramic insulating spacers, that use high currents to generate magnetic fields which accelerate a sliding conductor called an armature, firing a focused projectile of extremely hot ionized particles. The resulting blaster bolts are propelled at incredible speeds and produce incredible thermal damage upon impact with targets.
So yes! Star Wars style blasters are possible and in fact devices actually exist today that utilize technology it would take to build these types of weapons, though of course like any cutting-edge concepts, there are design and engineering challenges to solve if one were to actually make them practical. Pretty cool, right?
You may be surprised with how I handled blasters in my bestselling novels here.