Lasers and lightning!​

Engineers at Picatinny Arsenal, the US Army's weapons research and development facility, have successfully tested their prototype lightning gun. Guided lightning gun. The device uses a short (two trillionths of a second) high energy (50 billion watts) laser pulse to ionize the air along the beam, creating a conductive channel of plasma. The channel then conducts an electric charge from a high voltage source (a taser on steroids) towards a target. Additionally, this highly increases the range of the electric discharge. The image above shows a directed bolt of lightning earthing itself through a car. Which is all kinds of cool.


I wonder if you could use two lasers, fire one at a storm cloud, the other at your target, and smite your enemy with actual lightning


Anywhoo, source here.


LAZORZ

 

Not if you fire the lasers simultaneously, cross the streams () and provide a lower resistance path for the lightning than your (heavily insulated) machinery. And wear rubber soled boots. And operate it remotely.

The laser would have to fire continuously to damage anything vital, and I don't think the power source would withstand sustained fire. Also, the laser would probably melt. This way the laser only has to create a conduit for the electric charge to follow. You do more damage with less power.