With great power....
Alright, so today we're going to be taking a look at a different sort of weapon. Specifically, this is the first time we're looking at a purpose-built less lethal weapon. It's also the first chemical weapon we'll be taking a look at. It's also the first time I've had the luxury of a BLUEPRINT for the weapon, so I know much more about the internals of the weapon.
Web-Shooters:
(Spiderman franchise)
Invented by Peter Parker to fill the need for a less-lethal ranged weapon, the web-shooters are a set of paired, wrist mounted chemical weapons. They fire a rapidly setting, bio-degradable adhesive similar to spider's silk.
Let's get stuck into it:
1. Realism of design:
As far as the actual design goes, this thing is one of the better designs we've looked at thus far. It's mounted to the wrist, making it nearly impossible to lose them in a fight, and is tailored to Peter's wrists, ensuring it would be very difficult for it to slip or move around on his arm. The actual nozzle is elevated slightly off the wrist, thus allowing for a clear line of fire, and aiming would in fact be possible, allowing for fairly precise squirts of the web fluid. It's also easy to reload, opening at the top and allowing a cartridge of pressurized web chemicals to be slotted in.
The trigger initially looks somewhat stupid, as it is located in the palm of the hand, which seems like it might create issues when handling objects, clenching a fist, or other common occurrences. However, from my research, I have found that this issue was addressed by Marvel comics in official material, including the comics themselves. The trigger only fires when pressed in a specific manner, requiring two tap, one slightly before the other, and specifically upon the central button of the trigger.
As it stands, this is a safe, lightweight, and easily used weapon. But it's not PERFECT. For one, I imagine bending your wrists inward would be quite a feat when wearing these. Additionally, the edges of the metal cuff could dig into the wrist, and prolonged use would likely cause discomfort, blistering, and other issues associated with metal rubbing skin. That said, one could ease this significantly with padding on the inside of the cuff.
2. Realism of effect:
In terms of what these things DO, I need to reach a little bit for how realistic the actual webbing is. This is because we do not have any direct analog to this stuff in the real world as of yet. But we DO have adhesives that harden on exposure to the air, specifically, I'm thinking of something like contact adhesive, or Fix-N-Flex gap filler. So let's say you stuck somebody's arms in that, and then challenged them to break free once it had hardened. If that's a bit too abstract for you, let me put it more like this: Have you ever had Caulk from the hardware store get onto you, and then dry?
Good luck getting that off. This stuff is very sticky, very thick, and when it dries, remarkably strong. And this is in small amounts, the webs fired from the shooters are about half an inch thick in diameter. I very much doubt there's many people who are going to bust out of that.
The biggest breaks from reality are how quickly it hardens, and the fact it's bio-degradable. The fastest setting epoxy I can think of is 5 minute quick set. Spiderman's webs harden near instantly, except at the end, where they have a constant flow of new liquid, keeping it "sticky", like the tongue of a chameleon. The "body" of the webs develop a semi-hard "shell" of sorts, hardening when exposed to the air.
This also explains how the substance breaks down within roughly 2 hours. Basically, the stuff continually hardens and crumbles away into dust under it's own weight as it dries fully. This means it hardens in layers, and then "peels away", exposing the next layer, which hardens and then drops away, etc. Repeat until it basically dries up and crumbles into dust.
One little problem with this: We do not, at present time, have anything that I'm aware of that behaves in this manner. We DO have rapidly setting adhesives, but they are permanent, 5 minute epoxy is sometimes used to affix handles to custom knives and swords, it lasts basically forever. That said, it's NOT impossible that we see something similar to this in the future, people experiment with stuff like this all the time. Assuming such a substance could be developed, one obvious application would be police work, as it's a quick and probably non-lethal way to restrain a target from a distance.
Could we build it?
Well, as far as the mechanical aspects go.... yeah, assuming you had a machine shop and the technical capability, one could build the body of the web-shooter. The issue becomes the ammunition, as we don't really have anything that fits the bill for web fluid. You MIGHT be able to shoot some sort of adhesive from it, but I question why you'd really want to, as it would lack much effectivness.
What you COULD do, in theory, is have it fire self-defense sprays, like mace, pepper gel, or something similar. That said..... you run into potential legal issues there. Additionally, you will get that stuff on your hands, leading to cross-contamination, meaning you rub it on your face after the fact.
With great power comes great responsibility indeed. I wouldn't advise you to try an build a WORKING version, both because of the potential legal issues, and also because of the possibility of injuring yourself. However, if you want to build some homemade version that fires a safe substance, like silly-string, water, glue, or something of that nature, then you can make it, and I'd even ask that you send me video of the thing, because I'd love to see that!
Just don't try swinging from any buildings.
Have a Merry Christmas, readers, and special thanks to MaxwellLord for suggesting this idea!
Web-Shooters:
(Spiderman franchise)
Invented by Peter Parker to fill the need for a less-lethal ranged weapon, the web-shooters are a set of paired, wrist mounted chemical weapons. They fire a rapidly setting, bio-degradable adhesive similar to spider's silk.
Let's get stuck into it:
1. Realism of design:
As far as the actual design goes, this thing is one of the better designs we've looked at thus far. It's mounted to the wrist, making it nearly impossible to lose them in a fight, and is tailored to Peter's wrists, ensuring it would be very difficult for it to slip or move around on his arm. The actual nozzle is elevated slightly off the wrist, thus allowing for a clear line of fire, and aiming would in fact be possible, allowing for fairly precise squirts of the web fluid. It's also easy to reload, opening at the top and allowing a cartridge of pressurized web chemicals to be slotted in.
The trigger initially looks somewhat stupid, as it is located in the palm of the hand, which seems like it might create issues when handling objects, clenching a fist, or other common occurrences. However, from my research, I have found that this issue was addressed by Marvel comics in official material, including the comics themselves. The trigger only fires when pressed in a specific manner, requiring two tap, one slightly before the other, and specifically upon the central button of the trigger.
As it stands, this is a safe, lightweight, and easily used weapon. But it's not PERFECT. For one, I imagine bending your wrists inward would be quite a feat when wearing these. Additionally, the edges of the metal cuff could dig into the wrist, and prolonged use would likely cause discomfort, blistering, and other issues associated with metal rubbing skin. That said, one could ease this significantly with padding on the inside of the cuff.
2. Realism of effect:
In terms of what these things DO, I need to reach a little bit for how realistic the actual webbing is. This is because we do not have any direct analog to this stuff in the real world as of yet. But we DO have adhesives that harden on exposure to the air, specifically, I'm thinking of something like contact adhesive, or Fix-N-Flex gap filler. So let's say you stuck somebody's arms in that, and then challenged them to break free once it had hardened. If that's a bit too abstract for you, let me put it more like this: Have you ever had Caulk from the hardware store get onto you, and then dry?
Good luck getting that off. This stuff is very sticky, very thick, and when it dries, remarkably strong. And this is in small amounts, the webs fired from the shooters are about half an inch thick in diameter. I very much doubt there's many people who are going to bust out of that.
The biggest breaks from reality are how quickly it hardens, and the fact it's bio-degradable. The fastest setting epoxy I can think of is 5 minute quick set. Spiderman's webs harden near instantly, except at the end, where they have a constant flow of new liquid, keeping it "sticky", like the tongue of a chameleon. The "body" of the webs develop a semi-hard "shell" of sorts, hardening when exposed to the air.
This also explains how the substance breaks down within roughly 2 hours. Basically, the stuff continually hardens and crumbles away into dust under it's own weight as it dries fully. This means it hardens in layers, and then "peels away", exposing the next layer, which hardens and then drops away, etc. Repeat until it basically dries up and crumbles into dust.
One little problem with this: We do not, at present time, have anything that I'm aware of that behaves in this manner. We DO have rapidly setting adhesives, but they are permanent, 5 minute epoxy is sometimes used to affix handles to custom knives and swords, it lasts basically forever. That said, it's NOT impossible that we see something similar to this in the future, people experiment with stuff like this all the time. Assuming such a substance could be developed, one obvious application would be police work, as it's a quick and probably non-lethal way to restrain a target from a distance.
Could we build it?
Well, as far as the mechanical aspects go.... yeah, assuming you had a machine shop and the technical capability, one could build the body of the web-shooter. The issue becomes the ammunition, as we don't really have anything that fits the bill for web fluid. You MIGHT be able to shoot some sort of adhesive from it, but I question why you'd really want to, as it would lack much effectivness.
What you COULD do, in theory, is have it fire self-defense sprays, like mace, pepper gel, or something similar. That said..... you run into potential legal issues there. Additionally, you will get that stuff on your hands, leading to cross-contamination, meaning you rub it on your face after the fact.
With great power comes great responsibility indeed. I wouldn't advise you to try an build a WORKING version, both because of the potential legal issues, and also because of the possibility of injuring yourself. However, if you want to build some homemade version that fires a safe substance, like silly-string, water, glue, or something of that nature, then you can make it, and I'd even ask that you send me video of the thing, because I'd love to see that!
Just don't try swinging from any buildings.
Have a Merry Christmas, readers, and special thanks to MaxwellLord for suggesting this idea!
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