Raygun

Rayguns are types of directed-energy weapon, so far fictional, as far as is known in generally available information sources. They are classical and very widespread in science fiction. Types of raygun have various names: raygun, ray gun, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, etc. They supply the general role of guns in the scenarios of many stories.

Types

The ray fired is stated in each scenario to be laser or particle beam or plasma, or some form of energy which does not exist in the real world, or is undefined.

Related Topics:
Laser - Particle beam - Plasma

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Sometimes in science fiction stories, rayguns are used for metal cutting like blowtorches.

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In some science fiction, some rayguns have a firing mode that can stun its target instead of killing.

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Rayguns under their various names come in various sizes and forms: pistol; two-handed (often called a rifle); mounted on a vehicle; artillery-sized mounted on a spaceship or space base or asteroid or planet. The pistol form is seen most often.

Related Topics:
Pistol - Rifle - Artillery - Spaceship - Asteroid - Planet

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A "beam gun" in anime is an energy weapon which fires a colored beam of light.

Related Topics:
Anime - Energy weapon - Light

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"FX-Ray laser" in American science-fiction and animation is a humorous name for a raygun that fires a visible beam: FX is the show biz acronym for special effects.

Related Topics:
Laser - Science-fiction - Animation - FX - Show biz - Special effects

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Many rayguns do not behave like classical lasers or particle beams:-

Related Topics:
Laser - Particle beam

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• The beam travelling at much less than the speed of light.
• The beam can be seen from off its axis, which would not happen in space where there is nothing to be illuminated by the beam.
• Visible barrel recoil. This would only happen with a particle beam gun, and then only if (muzzle velocity) times (weight of particles fired) comes to a value comparable to the same for a bullet-firing gun.
• The power of the beam completely evaporating a man (equipment and all) who is hit by the beam.

Rayguns are a great variety of shapes and sizes, according to the imagination of the story writers and movie prop makers. Most pistol rayguns have a conventional pistol grip and trigger, but some (e.g. some Star Trek phasers) do not. The shapes of some rayguns are influenced by an opinion that they look most effective and weapon-like if they look somewhat like real guns; others are not.

Related Topics:
Prop - Pistol - Trigger - Star Trek - Phaser

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