Can Quantum Physics be weaponized?

[Researcher X]

Are there any theoretical applications of quantum physics that could in the future lead to weapons in the same way that special relativity led to nuclear weapons?

[clem]

Quantum physics was more important to the development of nuclear weapons than special relativity.

[Researcher X]

Quantum physics was more important to the development of nuclear weapons than special relativity.

How was that?

[clem]

The properties of nuclei, the scattering of slow neutrons, the processes of nuclear fission and fusion are all studied using quantum mechanics, with no special relativity entering.

[haael]

Putting nukes aside: Modern chemistry is strongly grounded in quantum physics. I don't know whether any explosive material has been really discovered using QM directly, but this is possible.

Also: There is a weapon similar to microwave oven, that heats human temperature receptors. Lasers and radars are also used as weapons. There are also "invisible" materials, that don't reflect radio waves. In some weapon sights, holograms are used. There is something called EMP bomb. Plus, all our weaponry is guided by computers made of transistors.

So yes, QM has beed weaponized.

As for General Relativity - it's used in GPS system that originally has been designed to guide missiles.

[LostConjugate]

How was that?

Special relativity discovered that a small amount of mass could produce an enormous amount of energy.

QM was the science behind releasing that energy.

[PipBoy]

Beyond the Nuclear Bomb, Fission Bomb I should say, I suppose the future of Fusion or the possibilities that Cold Fusion bings along could also become weaponised in the same way.

[Researcher X]

I heard some mention that a Bose-Einstein condensate could be weaponized, but I don't see how that's supposed to work. Is that just nonsense?

[dulrich]

The laser is a huge application of quantum physics, too.

[PipBoy]

The laser is a huge application of quantum physics, too.

Thats true...although I don't think we have suitable power soures for weaponized (assuming weaponized means high intensity) lasers just yet. Possibly with fusion power? On the subject....Light Sabers, possible or impossible?

[IcedEcliptic]

Not just weapons, but weapons research, such as the NIF.

[pallidin]

Do not expect a direct, all-informative answer.

Many advanced weapons/systems utilizing quantum physics are "hush-hush"
Nature of the beast...

[IcedEcliptic]

Let us be blunt: potatoes can be weaponized, so it is safe to assume that the fruit of a branch of physics can too. :wink:

[diazona]

But potatoes are vegetables :redface:

(or not, but I always lumped them in with the vegetables in my head)

[IcedEcliptic]

But potatoes are vegetables :redface:

(or not, but I always lumped them in with the vegetables in my head)

I think they are tubers, compared to carrots which are taproots. I don't know if that makes them veg. Either way, they make dandy weapons with some PVC and idle hands :biggrin:

[Dickfore]

lasers

[IcedEcliptic]

lasers

See posts 5 and 9.

[Dickfore]

Quantum computers used in cryptanalysis.

[IcedEcliptic]

Quantum computers used in cryptanalysis.

Probably don't exist now, but yeah, that would be one hell of a weapon. It wasn't based on qubits, but I always consider how potentially prescient the movie "Sneakers" was.

[0xDEADBEEF]

Sharks with freaking laser beams attached to the fins!

[Count Iblis]

Take your cat and measure an observable of the form:

|dead><dead| +|alive><alive|

[IcedEcliptic]

Can crackpot movies such as "what the..." be considered an intellectual poison, loosely based on even looser interpretations of QM be a weapon? It hurt to watch the 5 minutes I managed before snapping, shouting a curse in my native tongue, and leaving the theatre. I thought I would figure out how to help debunk it, but there was nothing of substance to be debunked, just madness.

[PipBoy]

May I interject with the suggestion that we simply force people to divide by Zero?

[haael]

Take your cat and measure an observable of the form:

|dead><dead| +|alive><alive|

You traitor! My cat's quantum state got destroyed after the measurement! What should I do now?

[IcedEcliptic]

You traitor! My cat's quantum state got destroyed after the measurement! What should I do now?

Put Wigner's friend in the mix and try again! :devil:

[Bob S]

Here are examples of airborne laser weapons in a 747 jumbo jet:

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/abl/

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0212/Airborne-laser-shoots-down-missile-in-mid-flight

Bob S

[DaleSpam]

Most QM textbooks are heavy enough be lethal with a good swing to the head. Does that count as weaponization of QM?

[IcedEcliptic]

Most QM textbooks are heavy enough be lethal with a good swing to the head. Does that count as weaponization of QM?

When you add the possibility of back and neck strain merely from carrying them... yes. Yes you can.

Does anyone remember the horror movie "Scanners"? I think some people feel they are under such an attack when someone begins to talk to them about REAL quantum mechanics:

http://elmickio.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/scanners1_1600.jpg

[arunma]

I heard some mention that a Bose-Einstein condensate could be weaponized, but I don't see how that's supposed to work. Is that just nonsense?

A friend and I once had a crazy idea. If you knew of a way to rapidly turn a large number of bosons into fermions simultaneously, then you could do some interesting things with Bose-Einstein condensations. First you'd have to make a Bose-Einstein condensate. Then, with all of the bosons in their ground state, you would turn them into fermions. The fermions would suddenly realize that they can't all be in the same quantum state at once, and would at the very least need to go into different states until they stack up to the Fermi energy. Fermionic wavefunctions tend to be more spatially separated than Bosonic wavefunctions, so this process might be accompanied by some kind of an explosion.

Of course, turning the bosons into fermions is the hard part. Perhaps exposing bosonic nuclei to a neutron flux might do the trick. But when you've got a bunch of bosons in their ground state, perhaps this is energetically unfavorable, so I don't know if it would work.

Like I said, crazy idea. This is how we graduate students are spending your taxpayer dollars.

[IcedEcliptic]

A friend and I once had a crazy idea. If you knew of a way to rapidly turn a large number of bosons into fermions simultaneously, then you could do some interesting things with Bose-Einstein condensations. First you'd have to make a Bose-Einstein condensate. Then, with all of the bosons in their ground state, you would turn them into fermions. The fermions would suddenly realize that they can't all be in the same quantum state at once, and would at the very least need to go into different states until they stack up to the Fermi energy. Fermionic wavefunctions tend to be more spatially separated than Bosonic wavefunctions, so this process might be accompanied by some kind of an explosion.

Of course, turning the bosons into fermions is the hard part. Perhaps exposing bosonic nuclei to a neutron flux might do the trick. But when you've got a bunch of bosons in their ground state, perhaps this is energetically unfavorable, so I don't know if it would work.

Like I said, crazy idea. This is how we graduate students are spending your taxpayer dollars.

Heh, wouldn't the neutron flux needed be pretty lethal on its own?

[Count Iblis]

Typo in my previous post: I meant the operator:

|dead><alive| + |alive><dead|

[haael]

Typo in my previous post: I meant the operator:

|dead><alive| + |alive><dead|
Only zombie is an eigenvector of such operator.

I thought of a better quantum weapon: take a very large count of fermions (quarks, electrons, whatever), speed it up to a high velocity relative to your enemy and set its trajectory so it goes through your enemy's heart.

[IcedEcliptic]

Only zombie is an eigenvector of such operator.

I thought of a better quantum weapon: take a very large count of fermions (quarks, electrons, whatever), speed it up to a high velocity relative to your enemy and set its trajectory so it goes through your enemy's heart.

Remind me to never piss of a quantum physicist... :biggrin:

[pallidin]

I heard somewhere that there is an "agreement", probably informal, that certain forms of directed energy weapons are not to be used against enemy personnel directly, rather only enemy infrastructure.

For example, using high energy lasers to permanently blind the opponent personnel(versus temporary blinding/hearing loss, such as in flash-bang grenades) is considered cruel.

[IcedEcliptic]

I heard somewhere that there is an "agreement", probably informal, that certain forms of directed energy weapons are not to be used against enemy personnel directly, rather only enemy infrastructure.

For example, using high energy lasers to permanently blind the opponent personnel(versus temporary blinding/hearing loss, such as in flash-bang grenades) is considered cruel.

Blinding lasers are barred by the Geneva Conventions, but there is wiggle-room with "dazzling" lasers, or microwave "pain rays". Not really surprising, the conventions bar even the use of expanding/fragmenting ammunition as well. There is nothing to stop the use of a lethal DEW however, but the issue is energy generation, storage, and blooming in atmosphere or target ablation.

[filegraphy]

I don't think we should be after war. What do you guys think?

[IcedEcliptic]

I don't think we should be after war. What do you guys think?

War is too complex in any given situation to simply "yea or nay" it. Generally, I think it should be avoided if other means can achieve a favorable result. Sometimes, waiting to engage is a crime too.