# Are scalar weapons for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879 "2003-08-04T12:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/181 "2003-08-19T02:06:27Z")
A note to would-be fanciers of 1920’s style death rays: Many of the offers on Ebay are indeed “1920’s style” but they are the cheap copies imported from Fernando Poo during the '60s and '70s. They are easy to spot if the death ray is in hand (the crystal resonation rods are glass in the copies rather than quartz, and the transmogrifier insulators are not made of Bakelite or amber) but it is extremely difficult to determine veracity online. Beware of anyone who sems to have a large suppy of these items for sale, unless they can show that they were one of Doc Savage’s antagonists. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/182 "2003-08-19T02:13:56Z")
Ah, they’re 1920’s style “Death Rays”… Death Rays that have made Threadspotting. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/183 "2003-08-19T04:10:26Z")
_1920_’s style Death Rays, you say? _Eeeeeexcellent._ ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/184 "2003-08-19T04:12:25Z")
By heavy-duty capacitors you must be referring to flux capacitors, right? A well-built flux capacitor will power a 1920s style death ray like nobody’s business. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/185 "2003-08-19T04:26:32Z")
NO WAY! Ray is dead? Roast Beef and Pat will be so bummed. And Phillippe will weep for days. Dibs on his thong! ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/186 "2003-08-19T05:42:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Governor Quinn \* > \*\*Not to mention that it’s the least effective death ray in history, and that’s counting the early ones. \*\* Au contraire, guv’nuh. They were _the_ most effective death rays ever mass produced, except we kept putting the silly things in reverse. Now, the death rays that the Japanese Army used to fight Godzilla; _those_ were ineffective. Probably because they were relics from the 1920s. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/187 "2003-08-19T06:02:49Z")
I don’t know what you’re all arguing about, but IMO the best death ray ever made was the double-shot Stratton-Chesterfield M1924B. It’s never let me down, and I use it a _lot_ in my work. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/188 "2003-08-19T06:11:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pqgenie \* > I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the classic 1958-style death ray, the **Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator**. And _I’m_ surprised this ridiculous thing is still in GQ. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/189 "2003-08-19T06:45:29Z")
It’s not…I saw **M.Ellis** in pit thread somewhere (hunting **Nanookie** I think he was) and the fallout spread that far it had. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3863784#post3863784](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3863784#post3863784) **M/E** hat specs need do you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/190 "2003-08-19T06:52:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by t-keela \* > \*\ ***M/E** hat specs need do you? 😉 \*\* Is that English? ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/191 "2003-08-19T10:42:44Z")
This thread’s been up for quite awhile And some may think it’s plain senile This Death Ray thread done 20’s style Should not be something you revile We’ve had a lot of things to say About this awesome beam array Perhaps to some of your dismay It made Threadspotting just today You may have thought, this thread’s a farce This Death Ray came from someone’s 'arse It’s true that good cite’s can be sparse But it’s all here for you to parse You claim our Death Ray’s not for real You say our story’s too piecemeal You swear they’re plastic, not of steel Tonight, our claims, I’m here to seal This story started long ago Way back before the Art Deco Our man he was a slight weirdo But damn his toys were quite nouveau He was a genius with a spark He did such strange things with an arc Some will say he was a lark And yet indeed, he left his mark He pioneered magnetic field He helped inventors get some yield Before some knobs one day he kneeled A sparking coil, he revealed So many patents, he did file It took a toll on his lifestyle He worked so hard he’d barely smile Inventions, patents, he had a pile One day men came, some men in black As he sat down to have a snack They said it best that he should pack Or that his head they just might crack Now where they took him we don’t know It may have been deep down below They said they needed some gizmo That could destroy without ammo Here the details may grow thin But what I say is not a spin His greatest work he did begin It started with a piece of tin We don’t know all of what transpired Or what components he required But in the end, he had hardwired That Death Ray which these men desired It took him years, this we know But then his toil began to show He’d found the perfect volt outflow A beam of light began to show Pull the trigger, right away A beam of light, there would play Where it lit there’d be a fray And man or beast it would sautee Now when it all was said and done Our country had a fearful gun A sturdy man could not outrun This thing would make us number one He told them it was time to pay They said come back another day And here our man was led astray For they had stolen his Death Ray They told him not a word to say They made him promise to obey They took him to the first highway And left him there to his dismay Now that such a time had passed His lifelong work had been surpassed His fortune lost, that he’d amassed Amongst his peers he’d been outcast He tried his best to start anew So many things he thought he’d do Wardenclyffe, he did eschew But in the end he just withdrew Now we come to '43 Quite a bit more elderly His heart it gave a final plea Nikola Tesla, ceased to be It’s quite a story, that I’ve told But don’t discount it 'cause it’s old There’s more to this still to unfold Don’t take my word, its been foretold We Death Ray fan’s have been at work Nikola’s dream we did not shirk Our Death Ray guns are just a perk At that I’ll ask you not to smirk Now here is what I must extol We’re oh so close to hit our goal With X-ray tubes we’re on a roll We’ll soon unveil our first wormhole It’s then that we’ll have all we need Unlimited energy, at high speed For all this oil we’ll have no need On that we all can be agreed We’re near to tapping Zero Point And he who does it, we’ll anoint A hero, him we will appoint For now, this story’s reached endpoint… …and I shall smoke another joint SAM I AM! - Mike Showell - 8/19/03 for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/192 "2003-08-19T11:47:59Z")
There are, unfortunately, no known authentic examples of this [1898 death ray](http://www.bartleby.com/1002/105.html)available on the open market; please be aware that inferior 1920’s style replicas are comparatively commonplace. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/193 "2003-08-19T11:58:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michael Ellis \* > \*\*Is that English? \*\* Yoda no good English speak. Death ray Yoda need not. Force Yoda have. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/194 "2003-08-19T13:32:55Z")
Aw pooh, I submitted this thread to tubadiva for Threadspotting and someone else got credit! I’m so mad! I wish I had…some kind of…killing…laser…gun…thingie of some sort! ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/195 "2003-08-19T14:57:07Z")
While we have all seen plenty of pictures of these gentle, functional and stylish death rays from the 1920’s, how did they work? Are there any photos of a 1920’s hunter standing next to an elephant with a VW sized hole blown through it? Help me picture what they (scalar weapons) looked when fired. Remember that show _Tek War_? It starred BJ without the bear, and he had a funky 2020’s style non-leathal death ray(?). How about the movie _Minority Report_? Was the wind up gun used in the car factory fight, also a 2020’s non-leathal death ray, a scalar weapon? ---
**Author:** ![Senior\_Chief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Senior\_Chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senior_Chief)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/196 "2003-08-19T15:39:45Z")
Scalar weapons exist. I have seen them. When I was recalled following 9/11, I got to ride in one of the silent black helicopters. they exist too. We used a scalar weapon to turn three grazing cows inside-out and put three carefully spaced burn marks next to them in the farmer’s field. ---
**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/197 "2003-08-19T16:06:41Z")
It was kinda like “death rays”, if you replace “death” with “hearty”, and “rays” with “dumplings”… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/198 "2003-08-19T16:13:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \* > **Au contraire, guv’nuh. They were _the_ most effective death rays ever mass produced, except we kept putting the silly things in reverse.** I take it, then, that you’ve never heard of the Hammerstein Tests, or read the reports of Dr. Carlin in 1956 and Professor Gumby in 1970, or read the March 1973 “Consumer Reports”, all of which shows that the Illudium Q-36 had very poor range, a tendency to misfire, broke easily, and was next to impossible to reload. Of course, you might be confusing it either with the 1951 Electro or the 1962 Barris, Carlin, & Barris (both of which closely resemble the Illudium Q-36), or you mean the Illudium Q-37, which actually _was_ a great death ray. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/199 "2003-08-19T16:25:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \* > **…Au contraire, guv’nuh. They were _the_ most effective death rays ever mass produced, except we kept putting the silly things in reverse. > …** You obviously know what you’re talking about, but this is General Questions, you should be clearer: The most effective _ever mass produced_ sure, but what no one has yet mentioned is the major problems 1920’s style “Death Rays” had with energy dissipated as sound waves. Inefficient sure, but the distinctive “bubblllnnzzzzrrrrrrrrtttt” sound of these are the main reason for their continuing popularity and general desirability. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/200 "2003-08-19T16:31:37Z")
I believe the first literary mention of a 1920’s style death ray came in Stenbeck’s classic “The Grapes of Wrath”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=11)