Electronic Research

[Hobbs]

hello, i'm new here. i have a question regarding capacitors...

is it plausible to connect a capacitor to a twin pronged dart and use that dart as a shock weapon. (i ask only for research for a publication i am working on, hope this is ok)

 

[BrownOut]

It's possible. Whether it's practical depends on many vairables, dart size, what you're bringing down, etc. Capacitors aren't perfect charge storage devices; they only hold charge for a short time. Now, having said that, hope I don't become a victim of your shock weapon

 

[birdman0_o]

that dart would be HUGE

 

[Hobbs]

cheers, its just a theory. mainly for a role playing game i'm working on.

the premise is this: a taser weapon but without the wires connecting the darts to the hand unit. the darts have their own charge. (note: will not be testing due to danger and the illegal nature of tasers in the uk lol)

 

[birdman0_o]

I hope you mean computer game!

 

[Hobbs]

I hope you mean computer game!

unfortunately no, its a paper-based one.

 

[birdman0_o]

Paper taser darts sound much less intimidating.

 

[Hobbs]

agreed. but is the concept possible? using a better system than the capacitor idea? i'm lacking in knowledge on the electronics side of things (give me a house and i can wire your lights and power etc lol)

 

[Veraxis]

the problem with a capacitor is that, with the low resistance of the body once the skin is broken, even a fairly large capacitor (a photo-flash capacitor, for example) would probably discharge too quickly to stun someone (but it would probably hurt A LOT). I hope that I am not assisting in the creation of some insidious weapon here, but perhaps something that produced a longer lasting shock would work better? For example, something like a "Joule thief", which can draw a large voltage from a fairly small power source, and is still small enough that one might conceivably fit it into a dart, may be a more practical choice of shock producer.

high voltage joule thief!

I certainly hope that this would never actually be used as weapon, even if it were only being used to stun someone!

 

[Hobbs]

as i say its for a role playing game i'm working on lol