Difference between revisions of "Talk:War Is the H-Word"

From The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(→‎Positrons: new section)
 
Line 7: Line 7:
I think Leela's name as Lee Lemon drew inspiration from the character Major Lemond in Air America.--[[User:Frida Waterfall|Frida Waterfall]] 02:08, 8 September 2010 (CEST)
I think Leela's name as Lee Lemon drew inspiration from the character Major Lemond in Air America.--[[User:Frida Waterfall|Frida Waterfall]] 02:08, 8 September 2010 (CEST)
:Perhaps, but they may have come up with it the same way Leela did, and given it is a funnier option, I hope they did. - [[User:Quolnok|Quolnok]] 06:02, 9 October 2010 (CEST)
:Perhaps, but they may have come up with it the same way Leela did, and given it is a funnier option, I hope they did. - [[User:Quolnok|Quolnok]] 06:02, 9 October 2010 (CEST)
== Positrons ==
Removing this from Trivia:
* A "positron shooter", assuming it fires positrons, would be impossible. The reason for this being that a positron is a form of anti-baryonic matter, which would neutralize immediately on contact with an electron. Therefore, unless Futurama takes place in an antimatter universe, the positron shooter would have to operate either from the effects of the neutralization of a positron or not at all.
This is nonsense. Positrons are used in particle-beam weapons in a wide variety of serious science fiction, and there's even been some real-world research into using them as satellite-based antisatellite or anti-ICBM weapons. Of course a useful handheld positron gun is way beyond early-21st century engineering capabilities, but so are effective handheld laser guns, neutron particle beams, etc. (Our batteries are orders of magnitude too heavy and too slow, for starters.)
And just about every detail is as wrong as the overall conclusion:
* Positrons aren't antibaryons, they're antileptons.
* You could build a beam weapon using antibaryonic matter anyway, although there's probably no point.
* A positron shooter is not only far from impossible, it's an everyday thing: a lump of magnesium-23, for example.
* When a positron hits an electron, it's usually called annihilation, not neutralization.
* And yes, at least part of the effects of your weapon would be the energy caused by positrons annihilating with electrons, but how is that a problem? Your target's surface is basically made of electrons.
Also, this is written as a "Goof" but it's in the Trivia section.
So I'm removing it. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.23|172.68.133.23]] 05:28, 30 July 2017 (CEST)

Latest revision as of 04:28, 30 July 2017

Featured.png War Is the H-Word appeared on the Infosphere's Main Page as the featured article for July, 2008. This article (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best produced by the Infosphere community. If you can update or improve it, please do.

Commentary link

The link to commentary in the sidebar is a red, "this-page-doesn't-exist-yet" link, but the commentary for this episode is at [1]. I can't figure out how to fix it, so if anyone who knows how wants to, that'd be great.

Nicely spotted, it's fixed. - Quolnok 19:07, 10 January 2008 (PST)

Leela's Name as Lee Lemon

I think Leela's name as Lee Lemon drew inspiration from the character Major Lemond in Air America.--Frida Waterfall 02:08, 8 September 2010 (CEST)

Perhaps, but they may have come up with it the same way Leela did, and given it is a funnier option, I hope they did. - Quolnok 06:02, 9 October 2010 (CEST)

Positrons

Removing this from Trivia:

  • A "positron shooter", assuming it fires positrons, would be impossible. The reason for this being that a positron is a form of anti-baryonic matter, which would neutralize immediately on contact with an electron. Therefore, unless Futurama takes place in an antimatter universe, the positron shooter would have to operate either from the effects of the neutralization of a positron or not at all.

This is nonsense. Positrons are used in particle-beam weapons in a wide variety of serious science fiction, and there's even been some real-world research into using them as satellite-based antisatellite or anti-ICBM weapons. Of course a useful handheld positron gun is way beyond early-21st century engineering capabilities, but so are effective handheld laser guns, neutron particle beams, etc. (Our batteries are orders of magnitude too heavy and too slow, for starters.)

And just about every detail is as wrong as the overall conclusion:

  • Positrons aren't antibaryons, they're antileptons.
  • You could build a beam weapon using antibaryonic matter anyway, although there's probably no point.
  • A positron shooter is not only far from impossible, it's an everyday thing: a lump of magnesium-23, for example.
  • When a positron hits an electron, it's usually called annihilation, not neutralization.
  • And yes, at least part of the effects of your weapon would be the energy caused by positrons annihilating with electrons, but how is that a problem? Your target's surface is basically made of electrons.

Also, this is written as a "Goof" but it's in the Trivia section.

So I'm removing it. --172.68.133.23 05:28, 30 July 2017 (CEST)