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Sound Generator Lethal From 10 Meters
penguinrecorder writes "The Thunder Generator uses a mixture of liquefied petroleum, cooking gas, and air to create explosions, which in turn generate shock waves capable of stunning people from 30 to 100 meters away. At that range, the weapon is relatively harmless, making people run in panic when they feel the sonic blast hitting their bodies. However, at less than ten meters, the Thunder Generator is capable of causing permanent damage or killing people."
In the words of B. A. Baracus, "BOOM!"
Just firing a handgun without hearing protection is enough to rip out the hair cells in your ears (which don't grow back) and cause permanent hearing loss. I'm pretty sure that if this thing is capable of "stunning" people it's doing lasting damage to your auditory system. That damage may be small, but it remains that the ringing you hear in your ears afterward is still a set of frequencies you'll never hear again.
When 11 just isn't loud enough...
Finally, Disaster Area can live up to their reputation!
Etc...
Leela: "Is all the work done by children?" Alien: "No, not the whipping."
Sufficiently powerful shock waves can kill people!
Coming up next we ask an expert - what exactly is an explosion again?
Weather follows at 11.
"Don't Boom Me Bro!"
THAT'S JUST STUNNING!
It just doesn't sound right.
Does this mean a real Sonic Screwdriver is not far behind?
A thunder generator in the battle field ? Call me old fashioned (and it won't be the first time) but I'll prefer a cannon, thank you.
Ah... I've been shoveling solid lumps of petroleum into my tank for years. Did I do an oopsie?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Yet again, OP gets it a little bit wrong, but in this case you can't blame the poster because TFA states it wrong as well. LPG is short for for Liquified Petroleum Gas, and it IS "cooking gas", it isn't "mixed with" cooking gas. Jeez. LPG is usually propane or butane or a mixture of them.
Having stated that, I will add my voice to what others have already posted: this device is a disaster waiting to happen. It has no place in "positive" enforcement scenarios. It might be useful as a self-defense weapon, but I question even that.
http://pbskids.org/barney/
--- What?
</Garrett_Morris>
You've got to admit, this sounds like it's hopping straight out of a certain Rand novel.
So how exactly is it surprising that a fuel-air explosion will scare, hurt and even kill people depending on the distance?
Maybe I'm being a bit too much of a pacifist here, but why are we constantly spending so much time developing newer ways to kill ourselves.. seems like we could better use those resources.
MABASPLOOM!
I think my friend Hotblack Desiato could do with a few of these for his rock band.
Things harmless at range can kill at contact distance. That's why some blind people with licenses to carry concealed handguns use blanks.
Shockwaves != sound waves
This is not the only sound based non-lethal weapon used by the IAF. They also use a device called The Scream, which emits a sound that causes disorientation and nausea. This one works at low, inaudible frequencies that vibrate the internal organs of the targets. There is also an high frequency version that is audible, that also produces a burning sensation on the skin (but does not produce any permanent damage).
I think they were also toying with using these types of weapons against the pirates in Somalia.
"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
Albert Einstein
LPG and cooking gas are both usually ways of saying propane/butane mix. Any ideas as to what they're trying to say here?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
..compared to my Darth Farts.
"Through sound and motion, you will be able to paralyze nerves, shatter bones, set fires, suffocate an enemy or burst his organs."
I prefer the much-more subtle (and slightly less fictional) Kate Bush, with "Experiment IV."
"...and they told us/what they wanted/was a sound that could kill someone"
According to company data, the system generates 60 to 100 bursts per minute, each traveling at about 2,000 meters per second and lasting up to 300 milliseconds.
It is pretty impressive they can make a burst of sound move at six times the speed of sound.
When would you typically use this?
On a battlefield? No.
Against protesters standing neatly behind barriers 30-100 meters away? Well, if they were standing so neatly, there wouldn't be much point in blasting them, would it.
Probably against protesters out of control, rushing forward in a chaotic situation. And if the effect is felt strongly you would prefer not to use it when there's lots of policemen trying to control the crowd, and if the effect feels weaker at range, protesters have been pretty well known to ignore some discomfort.
I just can't see how the micromechanics of this would work out.
Wouldn't the people firing the boomsday device be killed, since they are right next to it pulling the trigger?
If you mount it on top of a humvee, same problem, no?
When pointed in the ear or certain other places, some blanks can cause permanent injury or kill.
The point is, most less-than-lethal weapons could kill when used improperly. So treat them with respect, don't use them unless you are trained in their proper use, and don't use them improperly.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Turns out a single badass Deltal only known by his codename 'Dutch' (real name: Alan Schaeffer) killed a space alien in the jungle after a protracted stalking, and procured this weapon from the alien armor suit. The alien had managed to kill the rest of Dutch's team but somehow Dutch set off a low yield nuclear weapon and destroy the creature. This report was leaked by the tin foil underground movement, and is the real source of this new weapon.
Kate Bush's song about this type of thing: "Experiment IV"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6hvNe11r9U
"They told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake in the making."
My name is a killing word.
Dude, don't start it up. Those folks in Idaho are a thin skinned bunch.
The Idaho Potatoe Council, through their spokesman, Spuddy Buddy, want to reiterate that, "Potatoes don't kill people, people kill people."
"The potatoe is a non-lethal vegetable. In fact, there is only one tuber that is considered a weapon, but it is grown only in the upper most reaches of the Andeas on the boarders of Chile and Peru," Buddy went on to say.
Did you know millions of potatoes have been shipped around the world as humanitarian relief. Not a single one has been used in military agression. There has only been one instance of a potato being used to kill. That was the aforementioned Peruvian Murder Spud (rough translation) that the CIA used in an assasination attempt on the husband of Evita Peron.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Cool, I've been a fan of LHPO for years. I used to crew for hot-air balloons so just the thought of MIDI-controlled propane torches is awesome.
You need to do a gig at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Seriously.
American Idol (the 'real competition' portion - not the auditions that are sometimes hilarious), Eurovision Song Contest, and America/Britain's Got Talent. Within 10 meters, all of these can be lethal to people with IQs greater than 75. At distances greater than 10 meters, I am not sure of the lethality...but just hearing it causes me to double over with pain.
1331461 is only semiprime *sigh* Alas - I am just short of 1337.
"Experiment IV" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6hvNe11r9U
Warning - pretentious as hell, even for Kate Bush fans. YMMV. Starring Hugh "the guy from House" Laurie and Dawn "magnificent bosom" French.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Extremely light-weight and very wearable, sonic armor is now being sold. Crafted of 'soundproof' ceiling tiles it just might be enough to let you keep your lunch next time such a weapon is aimed at you!
A bomb is a sound generator too, and maybe we should this thing for what it is, a bomb. It is very loud when it explodes, and is world renowned for its ability to stun people at safe distances and kill them at closer distances.
This is my sig.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Or at least such a cannon would give a unexpected meaning to the saying "if it is too loud you are too old". You might even stop aging.
I am surprised you don't know the Squawk Box, which was used by the Brits again the Irish demonstrators. This box was a secret weapon used to cause non-lethal injuries, "thanks" to powerful acoustic waves.
And no, it was not Beatles' music.
RIP Slashdot. I used to love you. dead account - but slashdot wont let me delete it.
Beck and Limbaugh are lethal (to brain cells) from a mere 2 feet.
I would love to mount one of these babies under the hood and use it as a killer car horn for those drivers who JUST. WON'T. MOVE. One blast from this thing and they'll never sit there texting at the green light again. Also handy for those clueless people who drive UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT in the leftmost lane. Can't take a hint? Can't see my lights flashing? Don't realize you're clogging up the expressway? BOOOOMMMMM. Imagine the satisfying feeling as they instinctively floor the accelerator while blood dribbles down from their ears! Ahhh.
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
It's a Weirding Module!! So do you have to chant "muuuuad-DIB!" to make it fire??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudest_band_in_the_world
also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_Area_(fictional_band)#Hotblack_Desiato
Interesting that TFA doesn't mention decibel levels. Can sound and shockwaves be mutually exclusive (inside atmosphere)?
Monty Python invented something even deadlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gpjk_MaCGM
So, basically all that is new is the recharge time and the decibels.
Your mom sure enjoys it when I shoot at her face... and I don't fire any blanks, bro.
Kate Bush wrote a song about is over 20 years ago. Move on folks..nothing interesting here ;)
A defense contractor in Antarctica is a bad idea. Get Raytheon OUT of Antarctica.
a BOOMbox!
Putting the "anal" back into "analyst"...
Yeah, I'd prefer a cannon too. I remember reading in a magazine ( maybe Popular Mechanics? ) way back when about some Nazi Death Machines that were supposedly in the works near the end of WWII. They had a machine that worked on natural gas being exploded in a pipe that sounds substantially identical to this. The idea was to repel enemy troops trying to charge. It was one of those things that was just not practical on the battlefield, and never used.
...
5 .. 4 .. 3 .. 2 . 1 .
That's right, publish that information on ./ maybe someone will become "creative" and use that information to new purposes.
Pics, or it didnt happen.
So they have sound travelling at almost 6 times the speed of sound? That's some *serious* abuse of recursive technology there. No doubt, it works by making people's brains hurt.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
Army invents the sonic trap!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
What would it do to a basket full of kittens?
Or perhaps a disoriented 4 year old?
These things are to be used on groups of people to drive them .. infants and old people, not just the 17 year old kid. My father talks about being in Washington DC on a peaceful march against the war with family's including kids and being tear-gassed by the police. So now you and your kids can look forward to this.
We live in interesting times.
Apparently, the Israeli patented the pulse engine, used in V1 rockets by German Army during the WW2. Oh well... Where's the trick? Did the Germans fail to patent pulse engine for non-racial killing, did they limit the lethal direction, or or was their patent invalidated in 1945?
From the linked article:
"Using a patented process involving Pulse Detonation Technology (PDT), the system feeds the gas-air mixture into one or more so-called impulse chambers or cannon barrels, where the burning fuel detonates and intensifies in force as it travels through the chamber, exiting in a rapid-fire succession of high-velocity shock bursts."
V1:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb
Ugh, I started reading TFA and first thing I see is "An Israeli-developed..." Yet another Israeli developed fancy weapon. Sometimes it seems like they don't know how to do anything else but wage war, it's getting to be really fucking annoying.
Isn't this just the specs for one of those greasy breakfast burretos, and a bic lighter? I know you're taking a chance eating them, but being able to take out a bunch of other people nearby just makes them that much more impressive. I thought the smell was what made you lose friends, not actually blowing them to bits.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
sound boy gwan die tonight
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/09/64829
Reporting in the medical journal Thorax, they describe the cases of four young men who suffered a lung collapse -- technically called pneumothorax -- that appeared to be triggered by loud music. Three of the men were at a concert or club when the pneumothorax occurred, while the fourth was in his car, which was outfitted with a 1,000-watt bass box because he "liked to listen to loud music."
Why do we invent these horrible weapons?
Instead of spending millions to find new ways to hurt others why not spent that same money to help others?
I have studied audio utility for years. High decible + shockwave = damage is not new. Theoretically we have done it with bombs for years, the difference is this is more controlled.
More fascinating is the theory that everything has a fundamental wavelength that will render it to atoms.
Tone not volume as a killer is much more elegant and controlled.
Call me back when the military achieve this.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I am sure this will only be used on unruly crowds. And not on crowds that just need a little pushing to become unruly.
They must be using Nickelback as the audio source, that crap is lethal at any distance.
You have to wonder ;-)
Sonic Boom ! (SB); hold the joystick in the away position for 2 full seconds (Count slowly), then, in one fluid motion, switch the joystick to forward and press any punch button (The speed of the Sonic Boom is determined by the strength of the punch; weaker punches will produce slower sonic booms): Guile whips out an explosive boomerang from his back pocket and throws it horizontally. Certain characters (Dhalsim, Balrog, E. Honda, etc.) can dodge this attack with their own specials). The Sonic Boom is considered one of Guile's most useful weapons, as it can force an opponent into an undesired situation and interfere with his projectiles as well as potentially doing the obvious: hitting the opponent a full contact.
Dibs on the killing sound.
They'd better have some good system for targeting that sound or the first person to fire the weapon will kill himself as well as his target!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
A sonic weapon that goes up to eleven.
Have gnu, will travel.
The Calculus Affair. Absolute classic of the comics genre; one of the best graphic novels ever. While it's not serious the way Batman: The Dark Knight and Watchmen are, it's a masterpiece of cold war skulduggery and Indiana Jones-style hijinks. Clearly as influential as some of the best science fiction stories have been.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Calculus_Affair
Well how about this then? It can blow down a house of bricks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyAyd4WnvhU
I actually find this worrisome, from the standpoint of civil liberty. Non-violent protest actually relies on the brutality of governmental response to provoke sympathy and garner support for one's cause. While the so-called "non-lethal" weapons of today are still pretty brutal, I invite people to follow me on a little thought experiment that illustrates my concern.
Let's carry non-lethal crowd control methods to their ultimate conclusion. Imagine a device that lulls people to sleep, whereupon they're carried home, placed in their beds, enjoy a night's rest like the haven't managed in months, and awake to find a chocolate morsel on their nightstands and a terrifically refreshed sense of well-being. If crowds of peaceful protesters are broken up by repressive governments using this device, how much sympathy will that garner? How effective will civil disobedience be?
The scenario I describe is purposefully fanciful and exaggerated. Nevertheless, my point is that non-lethal methods carry the very real threat of keeping bad governments from looking all that bad. Government should hurt; and repressing civil disobedience should carry the risk of looking bad. Otherwise, you can be sure it will be used at the drop of a hat. And that may just pose a problem.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
"a mixture of liquefied petroleum, cooking gas, and air to create explosions" ...will do pemanent damage to the human body - hear, hear !
(Nothing really new here, move along !)
I'll bet this'll sell great in Iran and China.
--
I for one welcome our new megacorporate overlords.
Just go to Taco Bell and order three double stuffed burritos. It's equally as effective.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Any tool can be misused. If you know the 'safe' limits of the non-lethal technology you are using in a non-combat environment, you should be able to use it safely. It would be this is still much safer than rubber bullets (or lead for that matter). In a combat environment it matters not. Kill em all.
My farts are deadly up to 100 miles away.
How's that for a sonic cannon?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I'm pretty sure earplugs, a helmet and a heavy jacket would be an effective counter measure for this thing. Earplugs and an motorcycle helmet can shield your hearing from continurous noise up to around 150 dBA. The mass of a thick jacket should filter out any high frequency components of the impulses. Just add a plexiglass shield for the low frequencies and you should be able to rush this thing and kick it over.
Finally, a *humane* weapon that also kills... If the crowd chooses to come closer or not move away from the advancing vehicle where the weapon is mounted, that's their choice!
This device was designed for the relatively open space of a farm. In urban environments where this may be used, you will get reflections off large flat surfaces. Constructive interference will create some areas of higher sound pressure than might be predicted by the distance alone.
Humans are such awful creatures, we must use all available technologies to stun, maim, and kill these vile beings.
So, basically what they've made is a automatic spud gun.
Maybe they've been having troubles with the loader getting the potatoes into the barrel fast enough & someone in marketing had the idea that they could sell it to a different crowd.
Can it rip a woman's clothes off?
In Google we trust.
I have a book titled "German Secret Weapons" and it mentions the Nazi's experimenting with a very similar device (with very similar reported effects) detonating a methane/air mixture back in the late '30s. Although the (fuzzy) picture shows a rather large awkward-looking fixed-emplacement weapon while the one described in TFA sounds like it might be man-portable. It was designed for airfield defense and the project was dropped because they could not extend the range much over 300 yards, which was way too short to reach Norden bombsight equipped B-17's.
"California Penal Code Section 417.25
...the interesting part of this being in sec. a:
(a) Every person who, except in self-defense, aims or points a laser scope, as defined in subdivision (b), or a laser pointer, as defined in subdivision (c), at another person in a threatening manner with the specific intent to cause a reasonable person fear of bodily harm is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 30 days. For purposes of this section, the laser scope need not be attached to a firearm.
(b) As used in this section, "laser scope" means a portable battery-powered device capable of being attached to a firearm and capable of projecting a laser light on objects at a distance.
(c) As used in this section, "laser pointer" means any hand held laser beam device or demonstration laser product that emits a single point of light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation that is visible to the human eye."
"...except in self-defense..." which might imply you can defend yourself with a laser...! Or a laser equipped shark...
I can already see peaceful, legal demonstrators near the capitol building protesting nicely, peacefully, and then being bombarded with these things from 30 meters away. This is where I'd hope that the demonstrators would have a few of these things themselves so they could turn them back on the police once the police started using them against the demonstrators. I think that would be very appropriate! And what about torture? I can see our nice, honest, citizen loving government using these things for just such purposes; against people who do everything within their legal rights. What's happening to our country? Why has our government become so damn corrupt?