Re: Reality check

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

	You are right as ranges for practical particle beams would be much
too small. If someone could shoot down an airplane with a particle beam,
that would provide a very fine anti-ballistic missile defense -- which we
don't have. 

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


On Wed, 17 Nov 1999, Neil, David M wrote:

> I was listening to one of the 'fringe' talk radio shows last night, where an
> opinion was advanced that the Egypt Air plane was downed by a release from a
> particle beam weapon.  My opinion as stated to my wife (after a prolonged
> razzberry :-P ) was that a particle beam in 1 atm air had, shall we say, a
> limited range due to attenuation.
> 
> But I thought I should double-check my opinion with the group, since I
> didn't have numbers to back it up.
> 
> Before drawing any conclusions from my media choices, bear in mind that I
> did refer to it as 'fringe' - sometimes thought-provoking, often amusing,
> and usually interesting.
> 
> Dave Neil
> neildm@id.doe.gov
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