starter for 10? (see Mr London's earlier posts)
Particle Beams and Saucer Dreams
"Technically, the stopping power of a particle beam, given as a loss of energy per distance, is quantified by something called the “Bethe formula”. If one takes the results of this formula, and plots the value of the energy lost versus the distance traveled, (This is called a “Bragg curve”) it becomes plain that most of the energy let loose by the charged particle is at the very end of its journey. Just how much energy is released and how far the particle gets varies tremendously with the choice of particle and just what you happen to be blasting away at".
"The way it works is like this. When directed toward the sky, a properly tuned proton beam, focused by magnetic lenses, would pass through the first few thousand meters of air with no apparent effect. If the energy levels are adjusted right, the beam itself wouldn’t be visible. Then, when the energy of the beam dropped to a critical value, it would dump its remaining energy in a very short distance, ionizing the oxygen and nitrogen atoms of the atmosphere, causing one damn fine glowing ball of plasma".
"Assuming a circular beam aperture, the plasma would also take on a circular shape. Viewed from the side, the plasma would have a lenticular cross-section, and possibly even a different color from the bottom to the top due to the energy gradient of the dying beam (Remember Mark Farmer’s description? Very much like a spectral distribution). In short, it would look just like a glowing saucer. The beam could quickly be moved laterally, giving the plasma the appearance of instantly moving across the sky, much as a searchlight can jump “instantly” across the bottom of a cloud. But what about up and down? By changing the average energy of the individual protons, their range is also changed. This would make the plasma appear to instantly jump or “stairstep” vertically. By changing the number of protons per unit area in the beam (the particle flux, in nerd-speak), the plasma would appear to brighten or dim, but still staying in the same relative spot. It could be made to look so bright, onlookers might think it was about to explode.
But the big question is why? While it might make for a very cool display, the energy dumped in the area of the plasma is probably not of the level to do rapid damage to anything".
"Finally, there have been suggestively similar sightings at Northrop’s Tejon Ranch radar cross section facility out in western Antelope Valley in Southern California. There have been several fairly credible reports of glowing orbs seen around that place. These orbs don’t seem to flit around as fast or as far as those reported at Groom, but a glowing orb is a glowing orb. But what the hell would they be doing at Tejon Ranch?
The most probable explanation:
Radar. A device based upon this principle would make a really exquisite radar spoofing tool. The ionized plasma would give a good radar return, giving targeting radars something else to lock on to, instead of incoming aircraft. The ability to project an object of apparent solidity to enemy radar, instantly manipulatable, would be a most valuable little toy to have in your bag of tricks. As an added bonus, the plasma might even have significant emissions in the IR bands, as a decoy for heat seeking missiles. With enough engineering, it might be possible to reduce the size of the particle accelerator/generator to something small enough to fit on an aircraft (although that’s hard to imagine). The energy requirements would still be quite large".
... (although perhaps feasible for a naval vessel? or an island)
The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter
"software, written by real particle physicists, that, among other things, is used to determine the penetration depth of charged particles into targets".
"The Bethe equation, used to predict the distance charged particles will travel in a target".
an example of an "object" performing incredible maneuvers
