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See directed-energy weapon for various real weapons which are more or less like rayguns.

See Directed-energy weapon#Mythology for energy weapons in ancient mythologies.

See Directed-energy weapon#Tesla for reports that Tesla made a real raygun or similar.

See Electrolaser for an electric current sent down an ionized track made by a laser beam.

Contents 1 History 2 Types 3 Why rayguns are fictional, as far as is generally known 4 Real rayguns? 5 Some fictional rayguns 6 See also 7 Images of rayguns 8 Other uses of the word

Rayguns are a type of directed-energy weapon. They are a classic and widespread feature of science fiction. Types of raygun have various names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, etc. They supply the general role of guns in the scenarios of many stories. All rayguns are fictional as far as now known.

[edit] History

A very early example is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was published in 1898. Science fiction as far back as the 1920s emphasized death rays as the weapons of choice. Early science fiction often showed raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning or large electric arcs. When the laser, invented in 1960, became industrial reality in the 1960s, the generic fictional death rays were often renamed "lasers" (see Science fiction weapon). By the late 1960s and 1970s however, the laser's limits as a weapon were evident, and less specific terms such as "phaser" (see Star Trek) or "blaster" (see Star Wars) were used.

[edit] 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.
Sometimes in science fiction stories, rayguns are used for metal cutting like blowtorches.
In some science fiction, some rayguns have a firing mode that can stun its target instead of killing.

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.

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

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 (e.g. in the image at this link) are not.

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

• 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.

[edit] Why rayguns are fictional, as far as is generally known

• In many science fiction scenarios, the laws of physics and nature of matter and energy are different from in the real world (i.e.: the fictional Minovsky Physics, which operate in the Gundam universe.)
• With current technology, the amount of power that they would need is beyond the capacity of any handheld device^{[citation needed]}. Actual energy weapons are large and cumbersome and portable versions are barely powerful enough to be considered weapons.
• Many of them need non-existent materials.
• For laser guns, see Directed-energy weapon#Problems with lasers.
• For plasma rifles and similar, see Plasma rifle#Unlikely in the real world

[edit] Real rayguns?

• Recent developments in the real world in directed-energy weapons have produced artillery-sized weapons which might be described as rayguns, but usually are not.
• Also see electrolaser.
• Real lasers can do damage: some are powerful enough to bore holes through steel.
• The U.S. military has recently developed an airplane-based laser weapon capable of shooting down ICBM's.
• HERF cannons (= high-energy radio-frequency weapons), which work on the same principles as microwave ovens, have also shown potential.

[edit] Some fictional rayguns

scenario	gun name	beam type	how gun works; remarks
Aliens & its series	Colonial Marines weapons	One shoulder-carried plasma gun run off backpack powerpack. The APC was armed with a "particle beam Phalanx". The other weapons are not directed-energy weapons.
AndroidOps universe	2 sorts of infrared ray gun	infrared laser
David Weber's novel Apocalypse Troll	blaster	pulse of plasma	capacitor-fed
Babylon 5	Phased plasma gun	small pulse of plasma	In earlier episodes, few shots were fired, and plasma bursts were carefully generated by CGI, and penetrated the target, but when massive battles were staged, the CGI became lower quality, so the burst did not penetrate, but faded off.
Blake's 7	paragun	a short burst	Federation standard issue. Image here. More Federation kit images here.
	a pistol		Federation issue. Image here.
Captain Proton	blaster	lethal electric ray	1930-ish, made exaggerated sound & visual effects
	In a show within a show: parody within a "straight" show. In Star Trek: Voyager episode Bride of Chaotica, Tom Paris made a holodeck adventure series where he acted as Captain Proton, a 1930s style SF hero.
Command & Conquer: Renegade	Black Widow (Volt auto-rifle)	constant electrical beam (electrolaser?)	High damage to all targets. Short range.
	Firefly (laser rifle)	instant visible laser bolts	Rapid fire. Automatic. 50 shots per power pack.
	Tarantula (laser chaingun)	instant visible laser bolts	Rapid fire. Chain driven, automatic, much faster than Firefly. 100 shots per power pack.
	Merlin (personal ion cannon)	instant visible bolt of ions	High-powered. Rather large. Fires for a second, but cannot again for 3 seconds after. Less than 6 shots per power pack.
Crash Bandicoot	raygun	plasma of charged particles: rapid fire	fires green shots that when charged can completely obliterate target
Descent: FreeSpace	photon beam cannons	a large devastating glowing beam that damages and destroys enemy ships.
Doctor Who	Daleks' guns	"ruby rays"	fired from a gunstalk attached to the Dalek. Victim tuns negative and skeleton is visible for a few seconds. "Ruby" may be taken from ruby lasers.
Doom	Plasma rifle	plasma	rapid-fire plasma bolt weapon.
	BFG 9000	undefined (stated as plasma in Doom 3)	deadly energy weapon using unreal physics.
Forbidden Planet	hand blasters	could kill or vaporize	crew issue
	larger blasters		radio controlled, operated by "blastermen"
The Foundation Series (The Trilogy)	blaster	dazzling beam of high-power nuclear particles, shattered target.
The Foundation Series (The Sequels)	blaster	weaker, only disrupted men's internal organs, nearly no visible effect, only small release of power.
Ghostbusters	proton pack	particle beam	long gun which runs off a backpack which contains a nuclear accelerator
Gundam	mega beam cannons	"mega particles"	"Minovsky particles". Minovsky Physics operate throughout series.
Halo 2	Particle Beam Rifle	"beam particles"	mimics the human Sniper Rifle, level of magnification is 5x to 10x.
The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin (1927 novel)	"hyperboloid"	See The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin
The Hyperion Cantos	Death Wand	A laser-like beam weapon which fatally disrupted the synapses of a human.	Could only be operated at close range (a few meters), had no visible or audible effects, caused no visible damage to the target. Neutrino based. All non-human life was unaffected.
Independence Day	city-destroyer ray	unspecified	not aimable
James Bond: Moonraker (film)	"Moonraker laser"	laser beam	Has white casing. Images: [1] [2] [3] [4] It also appears in some videogames.
James Bond 007: Nightfire (a videogame)	Phoenix International Experimental Laser Rifle	"laser beam"	handheld powerful weapon with unlimited ammo, but needs a short time to recharge its integral power cells before reuse. Fires visible, rather slow-moving bolts. Can be charged up for a more-powerful slower-moving blast.
Kingdom Hearts (a videogame)	Xigbar's Guns	"energy arrows"	Handheld powerful weapon that Xigbar, No. 2 in the Organization, uses. Can transport bullets through small portals. Bullets shot will curve toward target. Can be overcharged to fire a powerful "Giant Shot".
Lucky Starr	blasters	small slugs which, meeting a surface, turned a fraction of their mass into energy (method indeterminate), killing the target with minimum of external light & sound
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis	Paracelsus's Sword	Massive experimental rail cannon being produced and wielded by the failed U. S. Army unit sent into Raccoon City to retrieve the G-Virus from William Birkin.	Needs unusually large batteries to fire; launches a massively offensive energy beam.
Resistance: Fall of Man	[Auger]	Chimeran primary weapon, similar to the Hl2 OSIPIR.
Stargate	staff weapon	plasma-bolt	2-handed like a spear.
	zat	unknown: possibly a plasma/electricity mix	Small, one-hand. One hit stuns, two kills, and three vaporises.
Super Smash Bros. series	Ray Gun	plasma	pistol-shaped plasma-shooting gun
Star Trek	phaser	nadions	ranges from light stun (level 1) to full disintegration (level 16)
	disruptor	undefined	used by Klingons. Kills.
Star Wars	blaster	various particle bursts	See blaster (Star Wars). which describes it in detail, but with unreal physics.
	lightsaber	energy arc	used as a blade rather than a gun.
Warhammer 40k	Lasgun	laser beam	It usually can remove an unarmored human limb in one shot. Often considered useless by gamers, as it can do nothing more than tie up time. Many variants exists, such as the Hellgun, Hellpistol, and Laspistol.
	Lascannon	massive energy blast	Heavier version of the Lasgun. Unlike the Lasgun, it can destroy heavily armored units with one shot. Godhammer patterns have better accuracy than conventional ones. (Note: all 40K las-weapons are recharged by a solar battery, and thus may run for an unlimited time)
Total Annihilation	Laser	May be a traditional laser, or may use coherent meson or pseudo-boson beams instead	Varies in colors and strengths
Unreal Tournament 2004	Lightning Gun	electrolaser
V	shock rifle and pistol	unknown	Can stun or wound a person. Lethal if the target is hit in a vital spot. Fires an electric blue/white bolt.
War of the Worlds (1898)	Heat-Ray	varies by versions: see Heat-Ray	a very early example; also occurs in next
Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898 sequel to ditto)	disintegrator ray	unspecified invisible ray	evaporates matter whose frequency it is set to: no heat flash
(various)	plasma rifle	plasma	See plasma rifle, including for why they are unlikely in the real world.

[edit] See also

• Weapons of Star Wars
• Weapons of Star Trek
• Solar Death Ray
• The film The Librarian: Quest for The Spear (2004) refers to Tesla's "Legendary Death Ray", whose prototype in the film is housed in the massive library of artifacts and books, which also includes such artifacts (fabled, or otherwise) as The Ark of the Covenant and Excalibur.
• Shrink Ray

[edit] Images of rayguns

A typical imaginary raygun

Imaginary raygun, 2 views, with parts labelled

Small artillery sized version of same, in use

[edit] Other uses of the word

• Motorcycle enthusiasts sometimes use the term raygun for the old shape of motorcycle exhaust silencer/muffler with a long straight cylindrical barrel that merged roundedly at each end into the pipe, as in this image and this image.
• A nickname for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
• In music:-
  • Ray Gun was a music magazine published during the 1990s.
  • Plastic Raygun is a successful independent record label in the UK.
  • Raygun was the name of a 1996 album by the Matthew Good Band.ja:熱線銃

fi:Lasertykki pt:Arma de raio