# 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:** 20
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/381 "2003-08-29T12:17:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > \*\*It seems that research into Rayguns has been continuing to the present day in an attempt to improve on some of the classic models from the 1920s. Unfortunately it would appear that recent federal budget cuts have placed some research on the backburner. > > From [here](http://www.theonion.com/current_news1.html): > “My positronic raygun was nearly complete,” said Mortis at a press conference Tuesday. “With one gigagram of destructonium [a rare element mined from a meteor belt that passes Earth once every 29 years], I could have ruled the world!” > On a different tack, I would like to know if a 1920s style death ray is actually a 1920s death ray or is it a more modern death ray made in the style of a 1920s death ray? \*\* Good info!! I just have one question. How much does a billion grams weigh? And to clarify your last part about the “style”. It wasn`t originally called a "1920`s style Death Ray". We call it that now in order to distinguish it from the other years/styles of death rays. Check out _[Death-ray.com](http://Death-ray.com)_ for more info. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/382 "2003-08-29T12:19:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Ah, they’re 1920’s style “Death Rays”. \*\* It would seem likely at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/383 "2003-08-29T12:20:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by whuckfistle \* > \*\* I just have one question. How much does a billion grams weigh?_\* It depends on local gravity. What planet are you on? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/384 "2003-08-29T12:26:52Z")
And it’s time for another post party. Longest. GQ. Thread. Ever. Of course, this one’s just been fun and pointless, but the mods deserve some applause for not closing it or shunting it off to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/385 "2003-08-29T12:34:02Z")
It’s also the funniest GQ ever. I keep sniggering reading it, and my boss is getting suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/386 "2003-08-29T12:48:23Z")
I read somewhere that Jack Zotti became disgusted with being known as a member of the “1920’s style Death Rays” family, and decided to change his name by inverting his initials. Due to a clerical error, “Zack Jotti” instead became “Zack Gotti.” And the rest is (Mafia) family history. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/387 "2003-08-29T13:10:33Z")
Here’s a pictire of a Modern Working Model of a 1920’s Death Ray: [1920’s Style Death Ray](http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39455000/jpg/_39455619_marsparty_ap.300a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/388 "2003-08-29T13:20:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Death rays have been around since the 1890’s, but the archtypical style associated with death rays was a product of the early 1920’s. i read recently that there was a french design which was developed earlier (in about 1778) and known as the “rayes du morte”. i will post a link if i can remember where i saw it. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/389 "2003-08-29T13:26:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Governor Quinn \* > \*\*Death rays have been around since the 1890’s, \*\* I respectfully beg to differ, the “rays” of the 1890’s were unmistakebly _heat rays_. As detailed by Dr. Herbert George W.'s jounals, which were based on direct observation, I believe. They were based on the principle of the thermal-dynamic chamber housing and parabolic focussing mirror. > [@](#): > > \*\* > but the archtypical style associated with death rays was a product of the early 1920’s. \*\* Absolutely! The pioneering work by Dr. P. Nowlan (with field work aided by U.S. Air Services Captain Anthony Rogers, who’s name was mostly lost and whose contribution has been largely unheralded) had the basic design and early working models essentially finished. [Here](http://www.toyraygun.com/3040/3040gallery.html) is a museum photo of one of the surviving models. circa 1929. (Note the clever use of an _inertron_ housing to make the weapon lighter to weild) Dr. Nowlan had some competition from the Chinese, of all people, who had some Mongol scientists field testing their own “disintegrator rays”. While it was effective to have the molecular cohesion break down and all matter in the path of the ray to disappear, (just ask the U.S. Navy!) it couldn’t hold a candle to American know-how and good ol’ can-do spirit. Interestingly, Dr. Nowlan anticipated the later Atomic scientists who publicized their fears of a holocaust with their popular “Doomsday Clock” and published his own predictions almost 20 years earlier. His contention was that if the then-current “Death-Ray arms-race” continued we would have, in his words: “Armageddon 2419”. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/390 "2003-08-29T13:38:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quietman1920 \* > \*\*Here’s a pictire of a Modern Working Model of a 1920’s Death Ray: > [1920’s Style Death Ray](http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39455000/jpg/_39455619_marsparty_ap.300a.jpg) \*\* And what a phat ride it’s mounted on! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/391 "2003-08-29T13:59:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pjd \* > \*\*i read recently that there was a french design which was > developed earlier (in about 1778) and known as the “rayes du > morte”. > > i will post a link if i can remember where i saw it. \*\* Ha, that was something **The Ryan** made up in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207287) thread. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/392 "2003-08-29T16:22:10Z")
Following my buddy Virgil’s success with the lobster experiment and the renewed interest in '20s style death rays generated by this thread, the Food Network is producing **Death Ray Cooking With Emeril: Kicking It Up A Notch 1920s Style**. There’s no word on when it is scheduled to air. ---
**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 29, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/393 "2003-08-29T16:30:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whuckfistle \* > \*\* I may beg to differ point the second. > I am quite sure that Hobbes has never made any public appearances…ever. Anything that appeared to be his image in a public setting has been disallowed and anyone claiming such nonsense will be dispatched to the nearest available bidet to have their eye sockets cleansed for a good fifteen to eighteen minutes. > \*\* Clean my eyesockets out, if you will, but there’s _newsreel footage_ from 1943 and 1944 of him chairing public hearings of the Board of Experimental Weapons. In addition, it’s very well known among experts on death ray history that Dr. Hobbes gave lectures on the subject at Columbia University in 1949, Dartmouth College in 1955, Harvard University in 1958, 1960, and 1961, the University of Chicago in 1959, Cambridge College in 1959 and 1962, Oxford in 1960, the UN Building in 1961, the Waldorf-Astoria in 1963, and at the Conrad Hilton in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/394 "2003-08-29T16:52:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quietman1920 \* > \*\*Here’s a pictire of a Modern Working Model of a 1920’s Death Ray: > [1920’s Style Death Ray](http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39455000/jpg/_39455619_marsparty_ap.300a.jpg) \*\* **Quietman** May I refer you to my post from page 6 > [@](#): > > Last night I went to a Mars party at the Griffith Park Observertory. A whole lot of amatuer astrometers brought their telescopes and people could look at Mars. > One individual had built an 11" refracting telescope and mounted it to the roof rack of his 240 Volvo station wagon. The unit was almost as long as the car, and damn if it didn’t look like a 1920’s style death ray mounted on a Volvo. > > So my question is did any of the death ray makers mount their units on the top of cars? I’m glad you got the pic. Reflecting back on what was going on that night, it might not have been a telescope on that Volvo, but rather a 1920’s style death ray make to look like a telescope. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/395 "2003-08-29T16:53:47Z")
I just had an epiphany. 1920’s style death ray is a great name for a drink. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of liquors. I humbly ask my fellow Dopers to invent a recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/396 "2003-08-29T17:22:08Z")
Anything with ''Slivovitz" in it would make up the “Death” part. Now we just need something for the “Ray”. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/397 "2003-08-29T17:37:12Z")
Death…black…kahlua! Rays…sun rays?..sun…teqila! Anyone have something for the “1920’s style” ---
**Author:** ![frixxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@frixxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frixxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/398 "2003-08-29T18:42:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grey \* > \*\*Death…black…kahlua! > Rays…sun rays?..sun…teqila! > > Anyone have something for the “1920’s style” \*\* Bathtub Gin - Prohibition - 1920’s style BTW…thanks to the mods for letting this go so long…Thanks to Tuckerfan, Gov. Quinn, Grey, Doc C, whuckfistle for keeping it real fun. And thanks to all the supporting cast for enabling a thread of this magnitude to stay as funny and clever as the world has ever seen. This will be my last post to this thread as the mods have come to my house and are threatening me with their 1920’s style Death-Rays at this moment… See ya around on the GQ All! 🆒 frixxxx ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/399 "2003-08-29T19:08:25Z")
But…but…nobody’s mentioned Hans Zarkoff! _How_ can you have a thread on 1920’s style death rays without discussing Hans Zarkoff? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/400 "2003-08-29T19:12:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by frixxxx \* > \*\*Bathtub Gin - Prohibition - 1920’s style > frixxxx \*\* I like the idea of usin gin to symbolize the twenties. However, I’d rather not use actual home made stuff. The stories about it may just be ULs. However, I’ve heard it was tested in a two stage process. Stage 1- Stick a finger in the gin. Wait a little while. Has the gin caused the nail to detach from your finger? If the nail is still on your finger, the gin passes stage 1. Stage 2-Drink the gin. Wait a little while. Have you gone blind? If you can still see, the gin passes stage 2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=21)