The nature of "repulsor burns"

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

Ok, so with the large number of fics (and comparatively small number of comics) I've read, plus movies, cartoons and the like, I've found more than a few references to "repulsor burns".

Now, most of these seem to be referring to something aking to a friction burn, and that makes a lot of sense to me, but a few seem to be more of a heat burn. The only real canon source I've seen so far where anyone's been seriously hurt by repulsors is Extremis, so any help would be great!

(The bigbang tag is because I need to know this so I can beta a fic properly :/ )

Comments

[muccamukk]

I find it's best not to think too hard about comicbook "science," and I think a lot of writers are vague on the difference between heat and friction burns. I'd just pick one, were I you.

I'm un tagging it big bang as it's not a big bang fic or announcement. Cannon question covers it

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I wasn't sure about the tags. Your answer is great, except the part of the fic I'm looking at isn't the bit about burns. That's just a question I had before.

[muccamukk]

Oh, okay. I tend to be a little first aid focused. What, specifically, are you looking for in terms of information? If you're looking for what powers the beams, the answer is "transistors" -g-

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

At absolute simplicity, Do repulsors gove off heat, and if so, is it enough to burn someone?

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

Double post,I know, but the actual fic involves melting metal. The burns bit is my own curiosity.

[muccamukk]

Gotcha. I would say, that considering the "He's Taking the Full Force of my Repulsor Blast" panel, that they do not give of much heat, certainly not enough to burn through metal. They seem to work through concussive force.

I would totally buy Tony jiggering them to be able to produce heat, but they probably don't as they are.

[dinahqueen.livejournal.com]

A Repulsor is an electronic device which uses particle beam technology to project a blast of concussive energy. Repulsor blasts may be directed by magnets and focused by electrostatic lenses, although they may also be self-focusing. One of the luminaries of repulsor design technology is Anthony Stark, who has incorporated them into every iteration of his patented Iron Man armors. Constructed using micro-circuitry, these repulsors are implemented into the palms of his battlesuit and are one of the armor's primary offensive tools.

I got that off of the Marvel database here (http://marvel.wikia.com/Glossary:Repulsor).

Now I'm not sure where they got that info, because the source isn't cited, but.

In my opinion, I don't think it gives off heat, maybe a little bit of it, but them mentioning concussive force makes me think that it would be more likely to break something than melt it.

I don't think it would burn something anyways, maybe friction burns, but I don't think it'd sear anything.

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

A Repulsor is an electronic device which uses particle beam technology to project a blast of concussive energy.

... Well, it's a step up from the "reverse magnetism" explanation. Which, in turn, made slightly more sense than the use of the "nuclear-powered transistors" in the Silver Age.

But only slightly. >__>

[dinahqueen.livejournal.com]

XD

But not much of one! XD IT'S TRANSISTORS! I SAW IT IN A COMIC BOOK! xD

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

Transistors = Magic. The 60s were a time of infinite possibilities.

Honestly, I can't say I find the lack of reverse magnetism and transistors in the modern comics a big loss, but I do miss the roller skates. *Sigh*

[muccamukk]

I thought he still had the roller skates. He told Maria Hill he did.

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

... I think my heart just exploded with joy.

Now, presuming he was telling the truth, he just needs to use them. Make it happen, Marvel! Surely Roller Tony would be a bright spot in this era of dark and gritty comic books.

I just really like Iron Man on roller skates.

[cookinguptales.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure he does! I was watching the Iron Age chat on Marvel's site, and when they mentioned that he was going to be having time travel adventures with Dazzler, someone asked if he still had his roller skates, and there was a definite yes, if I remember correctly.

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I would say that they don't generate heat primarily - they don't, after all, set things on fire when he takes off - but friction does generate heat, and if he needed to melt/burn/weld something with them, Tony Stark could probably use his knowledge of Physics! to do it. (I wouldn't be surprised if the repulsor beams generate a certain amount of heat just by friction with the air in fact.)

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

I can see that, but I don't know about melting unless it comes under "comic book science, comic book science, it just does that ok?"

[melannen.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, I can't see him, like, blasting at a pile of metal and melting it to slag, but if he had to, say, melt through a metal door or something, I suspect he could generate a lot of heat just by angling a repulsor beam to skim right over the edge of it, so the friction heat goes into the metal, and keeping the beam going for several minutes or so, without even having to jigger the electronics.

(If you need him to be able to melt a pile of metal into slag just by aiming the repulsors at it, I would go for some kind of interference effect between two different repulsor beams, where they are pushing against each other and the extra energy gets dumped as heat. Crossing the streams, as it were.)

[bethany-cabe.livejournal.com]

They give off a bit of heat, I think, but not much, and he's certainly capable of making them totally temperature-less, because that's one of the features of Pepper's Rescue armour. In her case, this also applies to the jet-boots. That being the case I don't imagine he'd have then left it off his own armour, since that's a big health and safety boost when attempting to rescue citizens without torching them.

[shariangel.livejournal.com]

"these repulsors are implemented into the palms of his battlesuit..." that's an odd line there. What's he use for flight then?

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

I think the exact nature of repulsor beams varies depending on what a given Marvel writer wants them to be able to do, but in volume one you see a direct hit at close range with a repulsor beam kill someone pretty much instantly (it's during the Demon in a Bottle storyline, when Justin Hammer has hacked Tony's suit), so they definitely do some form of traumatic damage to the human body. Exactly what kind of damage seems to vary by writer, and sometimes by issue.