Force Field. No, Really

tqft points out news of "a working force field, using plasma. Now to scale the sucker up." Here's the Brookhaven press release. I can think of so many uses for this.

Comments

An enormous breakthrough for parents

[artemis67]

Finally, a solution to the "Dad, he keeps touching me!" dilemma.

Re:An enormous breakthrough for parents

[CptChipJew]

The one problem though, is that this device runs at about 15,000 Kelvin.

Wait, now that I think about it, that would really teach those damn kids to stop messing around.

Re:An enormous breakthrough for parents

[indros]

Also probably a good first line of defense as birth control as well. Make sure the swimmers don't reach their destination!

I've already seen a working force field

[Hogwash McFly]

There was a guy down the street from me who was in a force field. Can't remember his name but he had a black and white striped shirt, white face paint and he didn't speak that much.

Re:I've already seen a working force field

[MaestroSartori]

Apparently, he was keeping quiet about it until the patent came through...

Re:I've already seen a working force field

[TopShelf]

Be very careful - this sounds like a French spy who's been trapped successfully. Sometimes they try to escape by climbing a rope, so be sure that field has a lid to it...

Re:I've already seen a working force field

[sharkey]

...he had a black and white striped shirt, white face paint and he didn't speak that much.

Easily breached using the proper Force-Field Deactivation Device.

Uses?

[Surak]

I can think of so many uses for this.

Like keeping PHBs out of the server room? ;)

Re:Uses?

[Smallphish]

Just what I need in my server room. Another heat source at 15,000 Kelvin. . .

Protect your *nix

[Tukz]

Finally a decent way to protect your *nix server
from physical contact!

Yipee!

*snicker*

Blast...

[foxtrot]

I asked the guy how he did it, but he won't tell me.

Hasn't anyone explained to him the wonders of open force?

-JDF

Force fields have existed for ages

[fredrikj]

Just read here

Spam?

[955301]

They use the word plasma so many times in the last sentence of the first link, that for some strange reason (closely related to my sense of humor, I'm sure), I'm reminded of Monty Python and Spam:

A much faster, more complex version of a previously introduced "spam window" (see New Scientist, 12 April 2003), the spam valve is the latest example of novel uses of spam for particle-beam applications; other recent ones include spam acceleration of antimatter (Update 634), a spam lens (Update 508), and spam deflection of high-energy beams (Update 540).

Niiieeeeeeeeeeeeee!

RTFA: NOT, NOT, NOT a "force field"

[1u3hr]

1) It's a "plasma valve". Not a force (ie magnetic or something ethereal), the magnetic "force" confines the plasma.

2) The plasma valve is INSIDE a copper container.

If you think this is a "force field" then you might also be interested in the "ray gun" in your television tube.

An interesting story nonetheless, spoiled only by the fatuous ignorance of the submitter and editor.

Yeah but...

[mikosullivan]

... does it make that cool "Bzzzzt" sound when you walk into it?

Re:You are smoking crack

[Dr.Enormous]

Or how about we don't convert away from an absolute temperature scale before dividing things all over the place?

If you convert to C first, you've just assigned an arbitrary zero to the scale and cut off about 90% of room temp, but only about 2% of the force field temp, so of course when you then go dividing by 50 it doesn't work out.

Remember kiddies: arbitrary scales are all well and good for addition and subtraction, but don't go messing around with multiplication and division; you'll end up a pregnant murderer who supports terrorists.

Re:Zap Field

[ebh]

I've got a good picture of it here.