[QUOTE=bordelond]
Slight hijack: is this the typical surgery to cure sleep apnea? I have been meaning to research the surgery … wasn’t sure how it was typically done.
[/quote]
Not any more. Later studies have shown it to be ineffective. As indeed it was for me.
Local novocaine-style numbing shot directly into the uvula. Didn’t feel a thing, except for the needle.
The latest treatment is cutting your throat. I mean, Genioglossus Advancement or a variant, maxillomandibular advancement, which is described in the Wiki article on Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. This is considerably more serious surgery. And more uncomfortable. (Especially if you have complications after.) And much more a shock to the people who come in and see you bleeding through the bandage wrapped around your neck. It will stop your snoring, though.
[QUOTE=Muad’Dib]
Let’s suppose that you have a high-power laser rifle, I have no idea what a proper power level would be, but strong enough to instantly go clear through you. What would the wound be like? Would it be a clean and cauterized hole having vaporized the flesh, something like a lightsaber? Or would it be much more violent?
All of that energy absorbed by the tissue doesn’t just disappear, so I wonder if you would explode in a shower of meaty chunks from the force of the expanding steam of the wound.
[/QUOTE]
I would suspect that such a weapon would be EXTREMELY messy. If you focused several TeraWatts of power on the torso of a person, you are going to explosively boil any body fluids in the immediate area. I would think the result would be like a bomb going off internally.
Note that large industrial lasers don’t do most of their cutting with light - the laser beam simply heats up the target, and then compressed gases blow the material out of the hole. If cutting speed is important, and edge quality is not, Oxygen can be used to increase the cutting rate by burning the hot material in the kerf.
The latest treatment is cutting your throat. I mean, Genioglossus Advancement or a variant, maxillomandibular advancement, which is described in the Wiki article on Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. This is considerably more serious surgery. And more uncomfortable. (Especially if you have complications after.) And much more a shock to the people who come in and see you bleeding through the bandage wrapped around your neck. It will stop your snoring, though.
[/QUOTE]
Hmmmm … I’ll stick with the CPAP, I guess. I thought the surgery was a lot more reliable than it appears to be.
Please don’t use a quick anecdote on the internet to evaluate a surgical procedure. Talk to a doctor about the chances it would help you in your particular situation.
If the laser energy is high enough, it’ll be like a bomb going off. Your body will vaporize with enough energy to really go boom. Lasers have been used to propel rockets by firing into an ablative chamber and vaporizing the material so rapidly it shoots out of the rocket as high-speed reaction mass.
So you might say getting hit by a laser of that power would be exhausting.
[QUOTE=beowulff]
I would suspect that such a weapon would be EXTREMELY messy. If you focused several TeraWatts of power on the torso of a person, you are going to explosively boil any body fluids in the immediate area. I would think the result would be like a bomb going off internally.
[/QUOTE]
On the other hand, if you use a phaser, the human target will simply glow and disappear. Even in a closed room, there’s no messy explosion or undue heat.
[QUOTE=Baldwin]
On the other hand, if you use a phaser, the human target will simply glow and disappear. Even in a closed room, there’s no messy explosion or undue heat.
[/QUOTE]
One reason I want to live in the Star Trek universe…
And, just think of all the funeral expenses you’d save!
[QUOTE=msmith537]
What about some of the experimental military lasers out there? If it’s powerful enough to take out a missle, I have to think it would damage a person.
[/QUOTE]
But like CalMeacham said, humans are wet. Missiles are dry. Have you ever tried sweating pipe where the valve still permits a small trickle? It’s kind of like that.
