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Heroes  Volume 2   Electrocution in flight (#24) Support Search RSS runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?) knightflyer Gadgeteer Global user Registered: 10-2004 Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way Posts: 244 Reply | Quote Electrocution in flight (#24) She could be electrocuted in flight. When a plane is struck by lightning the bolt usually enters from above and exits from the bottom before continuing to Earth (both geographically and electrically). Thus if the electric attack was powerful enough or a suitable ground close enough the attack could pass though Chi-Yun body just as if she was touching the Earth. Jumping is no defense. If the Earth wasn't close enough she may still suffer from an attack propagating a large charge from one side of her body to the other. I have no idea how big the attack would have to be to cause physiological effects, or damage. Touching down will probably be similar to getting a static shock when getting out of a car, but a lot bigger. Knightflyer Last edited by David Meadows, 2/6/2006, 20:11 --- Stuart --------- "What goes around come around." "And sometimes you get what's coming around." "And sometime you are what's coming around." Jim Butcher, Grave Peril 12/4/2005, 20:32 Send Email to knightflyer   Send PM to knightflyer David Meadows Editor-in-chief Global user Registered: 09-2003 Posts: 442 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight I'm assuming somewhat lower power than lightning. The Raider's bolts can't jump a metres-long air gap unaided. They work by firing a high energy laser pulse which ionises a trail through the air, this trail then providing the path to conduct the electtric charge. (I took the idea from Traveller 2300 plasma guns - go on, ruin my day and tell me it won't work for electricity). So, the conducting path leads to Chi-Yun, but there is not a similar ionised path from her to the Earth. (Actually, it occurs to me that I haven't explained this in the comic - though Huey theorised it in issue 23, I didn't confirm it.) Interesting point about the static shock when she touches down - I hadn't even considered that as an attack form. But I don't think static alone can injure, can it? I have seen a discharge from a Van Der Graf generator stop a wrist watch, but not harm the person wearing it. --- Reading without thinking will confuse you. Thinking without reading will place you in danger. -- Confucius, Spring and Autumn Period 13/4/2005, 19:29 Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows knightflyer Gadgeteer Global user Registered: 10-2004 Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way Posts: 244 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight Huey did theorise the laser, I forgot. It would work, it would keep the electric current on track. Without it the electricity would find its own path of least resistance just like lightning. The question is how much current does the attack need to do its damage? I'm not sure how much damage a static shock could do supposedly they generate 10's of thouands of Volts but presumably at low current. --- Stuart --------- "What goes around come around." "And sometimes you get what's coming around." "And sometime you are what's coming around." Jim Butcher, Grave Peril 14/4/2005, 21:05 Send Email to knightflyer   Send PM to knightflyer David Meadows Editor-in-chief Global user Registered: 09-2003 Posts: 442 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight The "breakdown" voltage of air is on the order of 3x10^6 V/m. A Van de Graaff (yes, I spelled it completely wrong in my last post) generator can produce a potential as high as 20MV (million volts). Protons accelerated through that potential difference receive enough energy to initiaite nuclear reactions between the protons and target nuclei... there's a thought for a new weapon the next time the Electric Raider appears... Hmmm... this book has every figure you could possibly want to know, except for how much power you need to incapacitate a person (or blow off a bank vault door, etc). I know how many joules you need to deliver in a bullet, but I can't relate that to bolts of electricity. --- Reading without thinking will confuse you. Thinking without reading will place you in danger. -- Confucius, Spring and Autumn Period 15/4/2005, 18:45 Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows knightflyer Gadgeteer Global user Registered: 10-2004 Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way Posts: 244 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight The power of an electric current is voltage * current (P=VI). The voltage will be the breakdown voltage required to establish a current flow. So 3x10^6V/m of range in air (I'm glad you found that). I guess the ionised path will make that considerably lower, but it'll be variable based on the range of the attack. Power is Energy per unit time (W=J/s). So how long does the raiders attack take, really not in game terms? How much voltage will he need to make the current flow. I'll have to go and think about the actual equations... Consider two attacks delivering the same energy but one takes less time than the other. The quicker one will heat ... lets say tissues (not the boxed variety) rapidly turning the water they contain to steam exploding them. The slower attack may not heat the tissues sufficiently to vapourise the water they contain but will still heat them resulting in a burn, possibly quite a large one. The difference between these two attacks is the quicker one delivers more than the latent heat of vapourisation of water. Thats 2260kJ/kg just to convert 100 degree C water into 100 degree C steam. Ouch... Last edited by knightflyer, 22/4/2005, 21:09 --- Stuart --------- "What goes around come around." "And sometimes you get what's coming around." "And sometime you are what's coming around." Jim Butcher, Grave Peril 22/4/2005, 20:53 Send Email to knightflyer   Send PM to knightflyer DrDiamond Just starting out Global user Registered: 03-2005 Posts: 6 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight ok while you are looking at the amout of power to dirupt the human body physically,(and i have no idear how much this is) you do not need power but rather the correct application of voltage to disrupt the mechanics of the body, eg send all the muscles into spasam or lock them, stop the heart etc. now this is all different for opening a safe door of course. (unless its a starwars safe ) 28/5/2005, 22:53 Send Email to DrDiamond   Send PM to DrDiamond Ray Oceanweaver Superhero Global user Registered: 04-2003 Location: England, UK Posts: 175 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight Hm... isn't it "the volts that jolt, the amps that kill"? At least, that's what my physics teacher has been telling us for the past so many years. ~Rachel --- The optimist fails as badly as the pessimist, just has a better time of it. 30/5/2005, 11:55 Send Email to Ray Oceanweaver   Send PM to Ray Oceanweaver Blog knightflyer Gadgeteer Global user Registered: 10-2004 Location: Orion Arm, Milky Way Posts: 244 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight It seems to me that even a fraction of 3 MegaVolts (1% would be 30 kiloVolts) would deliver a lot of energy to the target. Come to think of it the ionised channel would be essential to prevent the weapon spewing lightning like Dr Frankenstein's lab. By the way have you noticed the Ads on this letters page relates to the subject, but only vaguely. --- Stuart --------- "What goes around come around." "And sometimes you get what's coming around." "And sometime you are what's coming around." Jim Butcher, Grave Peril 19/6/2005, 21:37 Send Email to knightflyer   Send PM to knightflyer David Meadows Editor-in-chief Global user Registered: 09-2003 Posts: 442 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight I think the ads on this page are some of the most entertaining I've seen on these forums... do you see the one for "Electroconvulsive Therapy"? --- "Human beings are storytellers, spinners of tales" -- Stephen Jay Gould 20/6/2005, 17:59 Send Email to David Meadows   Send PM to David Meadows Ray Oceanweaver Superhero Global user Registered: 04-2003 Location: England, UK Posts: 175 Reply | Quote Re: Electrocution in flight Oh no! My firewall has blocked the adverts! ~Rachel --- The optimist fails as badly as the pessimist, just has a better time of it. 20/6/2005, 19:11 Send Email to Ray Oceanweaver   Send PM to Ray Oceanweaver Blog Add a reply Link to us   -  Blogs   -  Hall of Honour   -  Chat You are not logged in (login)      Board's time is: 28/11/2009, 3:21