Rune175

I have learned a great deal of math and I have been reading about relativity before and I could understand it well. I'm very interested in learning more than just concepts. My mistake I should have explained how well my math understading is!

1: Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides) 2: Special Relativity (M.I.T. Introductory Physics Series) 3: Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides) 4: Quantum Field Theory 5: A First Course in General Relativity Perhaps also a book about chaos theory.

Until now my studies have been about chemistry and biochemistry and space technology, but now I feel a strong need to expand my horizon, so to speak. So what I need is lots of physics! I have bought the following 5 books so far, containing the subjects: General relativity, special relativity, physics basic, physics advanced, Quantum field theory. are these books a good "start up" or do I need some more or have I missed some important subjects. I was thinking of also buying books regarding the subjects: Vectors, String theory, superconductors and non linear systems. Looking forward for your answers. Regards

Bbb..bbb...bbbb.... BILLYBOY!!

Thanks alot Antimatter for mentioning the clown, I was just on my way to sleep.. gave me nightmares when I was a kid. Don't you want a balloon?

If the laser is beamed only in vacuum space, I believe it would be possible to create a beam powerfull enough to burn through the hole of the hostile missile. The good thing about a laser weapon in space is the fact that the energy in the beam won't decrease in power, as it would if fired against the atmosphere. The only limit to the power of the laser, roughly said, is the size of the buffer/battery. For the thing to be reliable is, I believe, a question about developing the proper technology and target system in order for the weapon to function at near perfection. This I believe has caused some problems, and still does, when developing a reliable overall system. I'm not sure what you mean with the last one, that a light laser is required, perhaps you would like to explain that a little more. I'm sure the current technology required to design a lasersystem, like the one discussed, is available, it is only a matter of time before it can, perhaps, become a reality. 5614: Hadn't really given any thought regarding the problem with large mirrors and space debris and solar winds, thanks for pointing that out. In order to protect a satelite from inteferences like you mentioned, what would it require? Could it be realistic to believe that if the satelite was armored properly it could resists debris and solar winds? I appreciate the answers, great to finally have found a serious forum where people know what they are talking about!

Perhaps if you could type some of your own ideas and what you had in mind with this project it would be easier to provide you with some input.

I hope this is not a repost, but I couldn't find the topic in the Search function. The US have for a long time been trying to develop a missile defense system, to defend themselves from nuclear attacks etc. From my understanding this project has failed so far. From what I have read about the project the system contains multiple anti air missile launching sites around the US and in other areas as well. When an enemy missile is within range of the anti air missile sites, multiple counter missiles will be fired agains the hostile missile and destroy it. I was thinking of another way, probably to ambitious - and some of you might have som cons against it too. I know that scientist have been searching in different energy weapons, eg. laser weapons. What if, several sattelites were launched around the US in geo synchric orbit containing the following equipment: A large mirror (or solar collector if you will) and a huge buffer to store the energy absorbed. Now, the sattelite would, of course, need a weapon to shoot down through the atmosphere and destroy or disable the hostile missile. A laser beam in this case would probably be ineffective when beaming it through the atmosphere as the light would spread and the beam would be weak when entering the atmosphere. Of course in vacuum space this weapon would be much more effective, but the difficult part is that fact that the beam must penetrate the atmosphere, which would make it very weak, as mentioned above. If instead an x-ray laser weapon was used, this would make the beam much more effective, even when entering the atmosphere, and with enough energy (the huge buffer) the beam could disable the hostile missile. The sattelite would be controled from the earth, and only repairs or upgrades would cause the need for manpower. In that way the sattelite would be "cheap" once built. It wouldn't need an energy source from earth, instead it would use the energy from the sun to recharge. I have used the US only as an example as they are already trying to develop an anti missile defense system. This idea could apply for other countries as well. I'm looking forward for your input or, if you really must, your cons.