Raygun facts for kids

A raygun is a cool science fiction weapon. It shoots a beam of energy that is usually very powerful. You might also hear them called ray guns, death rays, beam guns, blasters, laser guns, laser pistols, or phasers.

In most stories, when a raygun is fired, it sends out a visible beam. This beam is often deadly if it hits a person. It can also destroy objects. The exact effects of the raygun can change a lot from one story to another.

In the real world, similar ideas are called directed-energy weapons. These are special weapons that use energy, like lasers, instead of bullets.

History of Rayguns

Rayguns have been around in stories for a long time. One of the very first examples was the Heat-Ray. This was a weapon used by the Martians in H. G. Wells' famous book, The War of the Worlds, which came out in 1898.

During the 1920s, many science fiction stories started talking about "death rays." Early stories often showed raygun beams making bright lights and loud noises, like lightning.

The actual words "ray gun" were first used in 1917. This was in a book called The Messiah of the Cylinder by Victor Rousseau.

Rayguns became super popular on the covers of science fiction magazines. This was especially true during the "Golden Age of Science Fiction" in the 1930s and 40s. They were also famous because of comic strips and movies like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

In 1960, lasers were invented in real life. Soon after, fictional laser weapons became popular in science fiction. For example, characters in the TV show Lost in Space (1965–1968) used handheld laser weapons.

Later, in the 1960s and 70s, people realized that real lasers weren't perfect weapons. So, rayguns in stories got new names. They were called "phasers" in Star Trek and "blasters" in Star Wars. They were also called "pulse rifles" or "plasma rifles."

How Rayguns Work (in Stories)

Fictional rayguns are usually much more powerful than real-life energy weapons. They often seem to have endless power. Their batteries or power packs are tiny and never need to be recharged.

In movies, rayguns often shoot visible pulses of energy. These pulses travel slowly enough for people to see them. Sometimes, characters can even dodge them! But in real life, laser light is invisible from the side. It also travels at the speed of light, which is super fast.

Still, some effects of fictional rayguns are like what a powerful energy beam would do in reality:

• They can create a lot of heat, like the heat rays in The War of the Worlds.
• They can cut through strong materials, just like a blowtorch.

But other effects are just for fun in stories:

• Rayguns in movies often kill targets instantly. Sometimes, there are no visible wounds or holes in clothes.
• Some rayguns make targets disappear completely! This is called "disintegrating" or "vaporizing."
• You might see a raygun kick back when fired, like a regular gun. But this would only happen if the energy beam had a lot of force, which is usually not the case.
• Many rayguns have non-deadly settings. They can stun, paralyze, or knock out a target. This is like modern electroshock weapons.
• Sometimes, rayguns have really wild effects! There are "freeze rays" in shows like Batman. There are even "shrink rays" that make things smaller!

Rayguns come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small like a pistol. Others are bigger, like a rifle, and need two hands. Some are even huge, mounted on vehicles, spaceships, or even planets!

Types of Raygun Energy

The energy beam from a raygun is usually said to be one of these types:

• Laser: A real type of focused light.
• A real type of particle beam: Like the protons from the proton packs in Ghostbusters.
• A made-up type of particle beam: Like "Minovsky particles" in the Gundam series.
• Plasma: A super-hot, electrically charged gas.
• An unknown type of energy: Sometimes, the story doesn't explain what the ray is made of.
• Stunner: This type of raygun is not meant to kill. It only temporarily disables an opponent.

Famous Rayguns in Stories

Here are some well-known rayguns from books, movies, and TV shows:

From Books

• Heat-Ray: The powerful Martian weapon from H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.
• Lasgun: A continuous laser weapon from the Dune book series.

From Movies and TV

• Proton pack: An energy weapon used by the ghost hunters in the movie Ghostbusters.
• Staff Weapon: The main weapon used by the Goa'uld army in the Stargate movies and TV shows.
• Phaser: One of the many energy weapons seen in Star Trek.
• Blaster: The common raygun used throughout the Star Wars universe.

Images for kids

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  Buck Rogers's raygun

See also

In Spanish: Pistola de rayos para niños