Stun Guns and Tasers and Shock Gloves, Oh My....

Weapons Master Joined : 07 Dec 2007 Posts : 1355

Tasers 101

As usual, I will preface this by stating that working with high voltages can be a potentially deadly experience. AC as low as 1amp is sufficient to cause cardiac arrest. A DC of around 50ma does the same. We recently had a member post pics of a very cool stun glove, and we have had many other asking about the electrical details ever since. I thought it would be helpful to put together a basic outline and a link to some additional information about how they work.

The trick to making a safe stun gun is very low amperage, but high voltage. Your brain allows you to control your muscles by sending electrical signals from your brain to your muscles to cause them to contract. A taser works by generating a voltage that also generates an electrical signal, only it does so at such a high voltage that the normal signals your brain sends are completely overwhelmed by the electrical signal being generated by the taser, and your muscles end up getting random signals that cause them to contract in spasms. This is what causes your paralysis when you are tasered.

While increasing amperage can also have the same effect, more amps also have a nasty side effect. You are moving so many electrons at the same time, that you also generate heat due to friction. This heat destroys the cells, and causes the burning you see in people who have been hit by high amperage electrical currents. Please note that 1Amp of AC current is enough to kill you.

Because of this, most tasers are within the 1mA to 5mA range, though I have seen some get close to 10mA. Anything above that is considered unsafe. However even 1mA, when applied with voltages in the tens to hundreds of thousands of volts, is more than sufficient to overpower the signals generated by your brain through your nervous system and cause paralysis. All without any permanent damage. Unless you have a pacemaker. Then be afraid.

If you feel the need to try and replicate this, our advice is to go and purchase a cheap stun gun and take it apart. It is perhaps the safest way to learn how they work.

More information can be found on the topic here:How Do Stun Guns Work?

Hopefully you dont find the topic too shocking... electrocute

_________________

"Genius - One per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration." - Albert Einstein

New Guy Age : 20 Joined : 27 Mar 2008 Posts : 3

i made a stun glove using disposable camera circuits. the way it works is that it discharges 2 300v capacitors on you, so 600v in total. but my question is how many amps it has, the capasitors say the voltage but no amperage, it does say how ever 120 uf (the u is so posed to be an up side down h)

now i dont know what that means but before i grab my ass with this thing to see if it works i would like to know weather im going to get really hurt.

iv bin looking around and read that this uf's are the amps but different or something....but im not 100%

so if anyone has the answer to what are this micro farets (misspelled) please help Very Happy

............... before some thing bad happens Crying or Very sad

Weapons Master Joined : 07 Dec 2007 Posts : 1355

Here you go:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/capacitor2.htm
http://www.sciencebyjones.com/Electricity%20Notes%202.htm
http://www.ausetute.com.au/faradayl.html

If you have any questions you can ask and i'll try and clarify any parts you are unclear about...
Enjoy... PhyreBlade

_________________

"Genius - One per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration." - Albert Einstein

Weapons Master Age : 56 Joined : 15 Dec 2007 Posts : 402

Here are some pages from my supervisors safety handbook from 1991 OSHA
It talks of Volts, Amps and Ohms
Think this way,
Volts is how many times you are punched in the face
Amps is how hard each punch is
Ohms is how sore your face gets. (just joking)

You dont want to be punched one time in the face really hard, for a split second,
You don't want to be punched 50,000 times in the face in 1 second, not so hard , either.
1 amp will kill you, but also 3 milliamps will kill you if the voltage is right.

This article is about AC wired current, not battery power.
but it explains the dynamics of electric shock.
Two or three people with stun guns can cause ventricular fibrillation in a person.
and if nobody is there for CPR , it can be fatal.

Be CAREFUL with electricity.

New Guy Age : 20 Joined : 27 Mar 2008 Posts : 3

wow that is alot to take in... thanks for this info both of u, so from what i read my glove wont kill me just hurt me because its trowing out "very soft punches" (low amps) but high voltage.

the safety manual is a very interesting thing but for me to under stand it i will need to look it over carefully because my understanding of electricity is minimal.

again thanks!

Death Dealer Age : 19 Joined : 14 Jul 2008 Posts : 269

I once designed a "taser" (In actuality it was an electro-laser, but it was still an electric weapon) that delivered 100,000 amps. Yes, amps, not volts. It takes .07 amps to kill you. I have no idea what 100,000 amps would do to you, but I'd guess it wouldn't be pretty. After I designed it, I showed the designs to my friend. He suggested a name for it : the Oblitirator beam. So I now call it the OBLITIRATOR. laser

Weapons Master Age : 56 Joined : 15 Dec 2007 Posts : 402

50 amps will cause your arm to burn,
200 amps will instantly evaporate the water in your arm and explode it.
1000 amps would most likely melt taser leads an inch out of the gun,
causing an arc flash in front of the shooter.
and if used as a stun wand , it would probably be an instantaneous local plasma.
killing both the target and the shooter.

there was a special on TV about light sabers, and the energy required to make one.
the lady physicist said,
"You wouldn't swing a light saber to kill a person, you'd just mail it to them, let them turn it on."

Death Dealer Age : 19 Joined : 14 Jul 2008 Posts : 269

so you're saying that the OBLITIRATOR deserves it's name.

P.S.

In case you're wondering, I estimated that the output would be 100,000 amps because it simultaneously discharges 4 industrial capacitors, each capable of discharging 25,000 amps.

Weapons Master Joined : 07 Dec 2007 Posts : 1355

WEAPONEER Age : 39 Joined : 06 Dec 2007 Posts : 1011

Lightsabers

As we don't have a real one to look at, any idea that we come up with would be based on our current level of Earth technology.
Think about what is was like just 100 years ago. No computers, no computer aided designs, no CNC, no high tech at all really.....execpt Tesla.

So how hard would it be to build one in 100 years from now given our current speed of tech/science development? How hard in 500 years?

Here's a idea I've had about lightsabers for a long time now. You would have to be talented in the force to make and use such a weapon.
What I mean by that is you would have to have telekinesis to be able to build it and use it.
The 'on/off button is mental/force operated and internal, the size/length/power of the blade would also be controlled by thought.

Lightsabres are not going to be made as they appear in the movies. Period. If you had one you wouldn't want to use it anyways. One slip, one mistake....it's all over. I still can't believe that Obi Wan just handed one to a dumb farmboy with out him knowing what it was or what it could do. Damn fool could have cut them both in half before the whole thing even got started.

Found this.........

The Homeland Security Department is aiming to arm federal agents with a light-saber-type weapon that emits a dazzling strobe capable of subduing criminals, terrorists and even unruly airline passengers.
It's the latest government effort to develop a non-lethal weapon — in this case, a powerful beam of light that temporarily blinds anyone who looks into it.

"The light could be used to make a bad guy turn away or shut his eyes, giving authorities enough time to tackle the suspect and apply the cuffs, all while sparing the lives of passersby, hostages or airline passengers," according to a description of the device from the Homeland Security Department's science and technology division.

Program manager Gerald Kirwin says Homeland Security has invested $1 million for testing of the LED (light-emitting diode) Incapacitator. It is being developed by a Torrance, Calif., company, Intelligent Optical Systems, and it will be tested on volunteers at Pennsylvania State University's Institute of Non-Lethal Defense Technologies this fall.

If all goes well, the Homeland Security Department says it "could be in the hands of thousands of policemen, border agents and National Guardsmen" by 2010. Kirwin says it also would be used by air marshals, border patrol agents, other officers with the Transportation Security Administration and customs officers.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States | California | Mexico | United Nations | Red Cross | Transportation Security Administration | Homeland Security Department | Geneva | International Committee | Torrance | Pennsylvania State University | National Guardsmen | Register | Immigration Lawyers Association | Bob Lieberman
The device works by temporarily blinding and disorienting a person, says Bob Lieberman, president of Intelligent Optical. Once aimed at someone's eyes, a series of light pulses and colors can be triggered and the subject's eyes can't adjust quickly enough to see.

"It's like someone shooting off a flashbulb in your face every few seconds," Lieberman says. "Because of the wavelengths and frequencies we use, there are psychophysical effects — a real disorientation. The reaction can range through vertigo to nausea."

That's why The Register, an irreverent online publication that covers the information technology industry, dubbed it the "puke-ray."

What the flashlight-size device doesn't do, however, is use lasers or permanently blind people, Lieberman says. In 1995, the United States signed on to a United Nations agreement that banned blinding weapons.

"We're taking great care to make sure the intensities we're using fall within eye-safe limit," Lieberman says. "We're doing medically supervised tests."

But some immigration and human rights groups say they're still concerned, particularly with the idea that the devices might be used on illegal immigrants.

"It gives me pause, particularly in regards to Mexico. Mexico is a very important economic partner of ours," says Deborah Notkin, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

"I would imagine that Mexico wouldn't be particularly happy with us using a device that would be more appropriate for criminals, not just for people trying to get across the border who are looking for better opportunities."

Peter Herby, head of the mines-arms unit's legal division at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, says he's not familiar with Homeland Security's new weapon. But he says many of the same issues are likely to crop up as with more dangerous, laser-based blinding weapons — called "dazzlers" because they blind people with intense light.

Among the issues: If the devices are mass-produced and fairly inexpensive, they're likely to be sold on the black market.

"Once they're in the hands of bad guys," Herby asks, "are the police going to have to wear protective gear to prevent them(selves) from being dazzled?"

yes
_________________

Shut up and build something!!

Death Dealer Age : 19 Joined : 14 Jul 2008 Posts : 269

I have heard of that, but (unless I'm way off) that's nothing like a lightsaber. A lightsaber is a sword made of energy that cuts through stuff and deflects stuff. That's a big, bright, multi-colored flashlight.

Lightsabers are designed to kill. That is designed to stop people from getting killed.

however, they are both directed energy weapons. (although the flashlight is not as directed as the lightsaber)

Also, I once designed a "lightsaber like" device. It was basically a laser that stoped cutting after 3 feet. However, if you swung one of my "laser swords" at another one, they would just pass through each other, and both fighters would die. (hey, I'm not perfect). Also, it would require a wire going to a backpack.

Oh yeah, and you probably couldn't power it for more than a few minutes without recharging.

Oh, and although it could (probably) cut through most anything, it's going to take it's sweet time cutting it. (once again, I'm not perfect)

P.S.
I saw that special too, and the only reason that the lightsaber had to be so hot was because it had to instandly melt metal. if it didn't have to cut through metal so quickly, it could be significantly cooler.

Death Dealer Age : 17 Joined : 09 Apr 2008 Posts : 328

well i dont know if its the same special, but there was one last night on the history channel. it explained that plasma is best explanation to copy a light saber at the moment. plasma glows, can be contained by a magnetic field, the magnetic field would prevent the two swords from crossing, it can cut with ease if hot enough, and can be made now. one problem is the heat as it would have to be up around 2 million degrees to cut metal instantaniously, but to cut humans instantaniously only 50,000 degrees would have to be reached. that is hot but attainable, it is actually being done now, scientists are getting plasma contained in a field about 3 feet long, that cat through a human like object (a dead pig) with close no problem, and metal fairly fast but not extreamly fast. but the now a day ones only take up about...an entire room of hard ware and power to create that 3 foot long beam, compaired to the flash light size, thats a little big. as we all know as time goes on everything gets smaller so in 100+ years this may be plausible.
_________________