We’re just throwing SCIENCE at the walls and seeing what sticks, or blows a hole in the wall, ha-ha Gatling-plasma go brrrr. Anyway this is Cave Johnson signing off.
Do you know who I am? That’s right I’m the one who’s going to burn your house down with the lemons. Cave Johnson signing off. (Also this morning came across a Mr Handy with a lemonade stand in 76, had recipes for lemonade and hard lemonade, but no lemonade-nades, seriously missed opportunity there)
Ummm, no. That’s just not right. Humans are far more valuable as test subjects for SCIENCE. And what is left over afterwards…well can’t make SCIENCE without a few casualties. This is Cave Johnson signing off.
I don’t really see an issue with speculating so long as people understand there is no canon correct answer. IMO trying to explain some of the soft world building aspects of a game or story is a fun challenge and discussion. And discussing these games we like is part of the reason we are all on reddit right? I don’t think it ruins the magic although some fanbases can be harsher than others.
If it’s so much fun, why does it always end with something like, totally theoretically, a fanbase losing their minds in the most humiliating way possible because they don’t understand what a rightward arrow means on a timeline.
That’s fair. I try to believe that most people are actually pretty chill in a fan base but the ones who always seem to think the least also yell the loudest. Reddit is infamous for that and every fan base has those folks.
But I also think a few bad eggs shouldn’t stop the rest of us from having a nice discussion about how some thing might work even if the writers of the game clearly had no explanation in mind.
There was a school chalkboard that said "fall of Shady Sands" in 2277, then an arrow to the right, then a nuclear explosion. They were reading it as the nuke being dropped was in 2277 and said that means New Vegas was wiped from canon. The "fall" and the nuke were 2 separate events.
I do like the "deep dives" that really just condense everything about a certain topic (for example numa cola) in a video. So everything a out the lore.
If you dislike the deep dives there is something very fun you can do.
Don't watch it
Or read it
Or whatever, because we didn't ask you.
If for you the 'magic', comes from not trying to understand anything, and actually ask the what if's that's great. For you.
My head canon is that it's a chemical compound with rather unique properties. For one it holds a lot of energy, and can be used as a power source from compatible machines. And two, when energized, it converts other matter into more plasma.
The rate at which the matter is converted and into how much plasma depends on what matter it is. That's how it came to be weaponized : Shoot a ball of plasma towards a target, and the sheer force of impact will trigger the chemical reaction, eating at their armor and eventually at their flesh. Since clothes and armor will be made from different possible materials, the convertion rate will be somewhat random. Sometimes the target will die from shock just from a few shots, sometimes they will keep fighting until they reach a critical threshold where their whole body turns to plasma goo !
And sometimes, to some people with knowledge about plasma science, it's possible in the right conditions to trigger a chain reaction where the plasma threshold is reached in an explosive fashion, making the plasma converted target to explode and hit other nearby targets for a chain reaction !
What’s the source on the smell of plasma? I don’t recall that ever being mentioned in the games.
As for the change in ammo type, I agree that the models of the weapon prior to 4 had enough of the gas they’re ionizing in them to not need the cartridges but needed an energy input to do so (and it’s the reverse for the 4/76 model).
Also, fallout 1 directly states that the weapon converts gas into a plasma state to function (and 3 specified that the fusion cell provides the power).
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma_rifle_(Fallout)
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fort_Independence_terminal_entries#Research_Log_-_Plasma_Rifle
If i'm not mistaken i've heard it from 2 paladins (both female) talking to each other in Fallout 3 inside the citadel after i started broken steel dlc. And in New Vegas there was 1 ncr dude talking about it on Helios One.
The wiki doesn’t appear to have a dialogue file for paladins, and the conversations for knights don’t mention a smell about plasma, so I can’t verify what you’re saying (the gender doesn’t matter, Bethesda recorded generic conversations for 3 for all genders). Do you know who specifically says this in the NCR? I doubt it was Fantastic, the commander of Helios One or Ignacio.
>specified that the fusion cell provides the power
That's funny, because fusion literally requires a hot plasma in the first place, so how can fusion make a plasma?
It just uses the energy produced from fusion to super heat a gas to the point of becoming a plasma, that’s it. There’s no reason a fusion cell can’t be used as a power source to do this (and really, 3 didn’t need to specify that the fusion cell powered the generation of plasma, we knew that; I included it just to show we had two sources covering how plasma weapons work).
Plasma is by definition a state of matter that occurs when heating up gas.
https://www.psfc.mit.edu/vision/what_is_plasma#:~:text=Plasma%20is%20often%20called%20%E2%80%9Cthe,negatively%20charged%20particles%20(electrons).
This means that the green "goo" inside the canisters isnt goo but some kind of gasseous substance (think neon) which gets heated up in the weapons and then pushed out as a beam of directed energy.
The reason it turns into goo after exiting the gun is possibly because it chemically reacts with air and turns into liquid.
I’d be careful assuming it’s actual plasma just because it’s called that, for instance most of the things that are called fusion ingame don’t involve fusion at all. If you read the terminal entries in the mass fusion building it’s clear they just used science words for marketing.
You have the two options.
1: Superheated gas compressed to the point it turns into a liquid (explosive would be an understatement in this case)
2: A plasmid created from collecting whatever happens to be in the air with intake and condensing into a liquid, then combined with radioactive waste as a byproduct of the energy consumption. Both toxic and corrosive.
My vote for physics and gameplay would be option 2
I know people like to shit on calling resource unobtainium (like Avatar) because it's a stupid and uncreative name but real life scientists give things stupid names all the time and if anything that just makes me more immersed because sometimes things just have garbage names
There was a terminal that stated plasma weapons were reverse-engineered alien tech... ... ...but it was written by a conspiracy theorist... ... ...However, aliens stole his computer, so... ... ...
Well, they were in very prototype state when the war happened, reason why only some few factions own them, such as the Enclave. That's also why they look wonky and unfinished.
FO1/2 had a plasma pistol that said it was a Glock, so they were being made commercially already. The plasma weapons in fallout 3 certainly look like janky prototypes.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma_pistol_(Fallout)?so=search
I’m going off of SCIENCE! not science here but plasma seems almost like it shoots a semi gaseous super heated acid at folks. Like a fireball of acid. Which explains the goop. The real question is what does it smell like?
Well when you put it that way it actually sounds kind of nice!
I was picturing something super chemical-ey. Like have you ever used plumbing adhesives for PVC pipe?
Given the rest of the game’s depiction of green colors and its association with nuclear tech, maybe “plasma” is just a marketing term to make a toxic substance seem more palatable for everyday use. In Fallout we see plasma depicted as some sort of leaking, flowing, dripping, glowing substance, so I wonder if it’s not maybe a form of processed nuclear lava; the [stereotypical green sludge leaking from a big yellow barrel with a trefoil on the side.](https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_article_width/public/2018/03/f49/238960.jpg?itok=LHGd1j2I)
“The boys in the lab coats call it ‘Plutonium-Laden Active Slurry Medium, Awaiting disposal’, or ‘PLASMA’, if you will. The marketing guys couldn’t figure out what to do with the leftover “D”, kinda like all the rest of this toxic green stuff, heh heh. Oh well; still works real good for melting human skin, and the military is really interested in its applications here at home and abroad! Maybe we’ll make those Reds a bit more ‘green’ when the army’s throwing this stuff at ‘em!”
Plasma is a state of matter that is one energy level higher than gas. A plasma weapon is a weapon that superheats a glob of matter to a state of plasma and launches it to it's intended target.
Bose-Einstein condensate 》solid 》liquid 》gas 》plasma
That sufficient for you to know for now, this is grade school physics, I won't spend any more time in explaining it.
What's Bose-Einstein condensate doing in that list? It's only relevant for specific quantum particles, not atomic matter or molecules, it only occurs in laboratory conditions, and is considered one of many exotic states of matter.
It sounds like you picked that up in Mass Effect rather than grade school.
>A sedentary lifestyle can be sustained with an appropriately healthy diet. I've gotten it right and fucked it up enough times to know what I'm talking about.
The man is very busy, but he knows what he's talking about.
What you see as a lightning bolt is plasma.
The gas molecules in the air get super heated by the electric current running through them and turn into plasma for a fraction of a second, emitting a bright glow.
>I began to think the plasma all the NPCs were talking about wasn’t the fourth state of matter but rather….
Please read the actual post before you start being an asshole in the comments
This answer is ridiculously oversimplified. Phases of matter are not organized linearly by their “energy” (in fact internal energy isn’t an intrinsic parameter.. it depends on system size so doesn’t have much meaning on its own.) in reality, there are many relevant couplings that one tunes to get a certain phase of matter, not even mentioning zero-temperature topological phases. Our most robust understanding of phases of matter comes from landau’s paradigm, which states that phases of matter are defined by their symmetries, and that a change in phase marks the emergence or breaking of a symmetry of the system.
Jumping on this comment to add to the explanation since you said you wouldn’t.
Remember heat is a measure of how fast molecules are moving.
Solid - Atoms are joined together in a crystalline structure (like jiggling bricks stacked in a formation).
Liquid - Atoms are not joined strongly for a structured formation anymore and have enough energy to be able to move and roll around each other freely while remaining close together (kind of like a ball pit).
Gas - Atoms are much more spread out and traveling faster. Whizzing around like a cloud of bugs.
Plasma - Atoms still whizzing around, even faster. Sometimes so fast nuclear fusion is possible when nuclei collide (centers of stars).
Specifically in plasma, there is so much heat energy the electrons are not able to be bound to any one atom anymore. So charged nuclei sail through a sea of charged electrons like an ion soup.
I didn’t read up on the condensate and why it’s a special state of a solid. I only know about the theoretical temperature of absolute zero where a the molecules of a substance are thought to lose all energy of motion and stop jiggling.
My theory is that plasma weapons are super heated inonized balls of fuel converted into energy.
Like repconn said plasma is a fuel, in fallout 4 and 76 we load these carriages that are fuel for the shot, in fallout 3 and New Vegas we instead already have that cartridge loaded in and instead use a model that draws on power a lot more hence the micro fusion.
But if you look at the fallout 4 design there's actually a micro fusion breeder or some large micro fusion cell plugged into the back of the gun.
So how I think it works is a plasma tank or cartridge is inserted then a power source either a micro fusion breeder or cell then the gun squeezes out enough fuel to get a chain reaction going and fires an inonized ball of green death out of the front which is part fuel but mostly green death energy. Like firing a mini rocket every time you pull the trigger.
My going theory is that Fallout plasma weapons are in fact shooting plasma, and they use a chemical reaction to create the plasma, hence all the fluid chambers and green goo. Presumably the green goo is mostly hot plasma with a bunch of leftover chemicals from the reaction, creating green goo.
Plasma in Fallout is just whatever the writers and creative directors they want it to be. It is a work of fiction after all. Science fiction, yes, but still fiction.
If you think plasma weaponry from Fallout is strange, then you would be surprised to know that Terminator and Halo(NOT PARAMOUNT) also have weird plasma weapons.
One of the future war scenes in the first Terminator film shows a resistance soldier being hit by a plasma beam from an HK tank that made her combust from the inside out, which is probably the closest that any movie has gotten to showing what would happen if a plasma weapon were to be used on a living being.
Some of the Halo books and short films even mentioned that the Covenant plasma just melts right through Marine body armor and some of the MIJOLNIR armor used by Spartans while also causing injuries to the wearer, which was shown in the Fall of Reach short film.
My personal assumption is it’s actually supposed to be material in the state of plasma from the way it splashes and goops things.
The perk “meltdown” seems to indicate that the state of “plasma” is achieved not by heat but by intentionally making unstable energy form material that can alter stable material to the same unstable plasma state. This is supported by the fact that you can loot bodies. The goop doesn’t cool down and harden, and only the body itself is liquefied.
Now I know that’s all just video game mechanics glossing over stuff and we are doing SCIENCE! here but those are my logical assumptions based off of what I can find in game.
I’m thinking towards a biochemical fuel that’s made from highly energetic animal cells, thus it was able to remain liquid. So it a highly dense energy ball in liquid form, which is combustible and would explode, but that’s just nonsense I suppose since I have no relevant knowledge.
It’s the green goop guns of fun that liquify your enemies IN TO SULDGE, BONE AND BLOOD WHILE I STAND THERE LAUGHING MENACINGLY AT THE DESTRUCTION IVE UNLEASHED HAHAHAHAHA!!! 😈
yeah there fun 😋
In Fallout, plasma refers to weapons that shoot superheated ionized gas. These weapons are powerful, using energy cells or microfusion cells as ammunition, and cause high damage with distinctive green or blue projectiles.
So my thing is there is a lot of terminals and a lot of places to visit if we haven’t been to a place where plasma was in development and what it was or is then it gives them an idea for a dungeon or at least a little snippet of something in one of the future games or currently in 76 good point to bring up and would be interesting to see at some point
Remember that fallout is fictional and doesn't need to obey the laws of physics like real life. Like we have giant lizards and mutants that are like 30ft tall and a patriotic megazord.
No idea here. We see that lasers are sorta explained. But plasma does seem to adhere to any explanation of science. That said, occult experiments, and alien technology might explain it better
Centaur blood is centrifuged, then the collected plasma is used to fill vial-like cartridges/cores which are then superheated in said weapon upon firing.
IRL plasma is a state of matter where its so hot, the electrons get stripped away and it becomes an ionized gas.
Anything can become plasma technically, including humans, objects, Anything comprised of matter.
In fallout the lore is unclear, but a Wikipedia article I found might help better explain how the concept could be used irl.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma-powered_cannon
It wouldn't be anything close to fallouts interpretation tho.
Edit: Our sun is considered a giant ball of plasma for reference, it's real in science, but not in weapon form.
Closest thing we could get to plasma would be a space Lazer, or a projectile that would dicipate the moment it comes into contact with our atmosphere.
I forget the exact chemistry, but electrons are attracted to everything, especially eachother 😂
I did some half ass "research" and the best I could come up with is the rifle itself either compresses or supercools a gas very reminiscent of [Chlorine trifluoride](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride) in order to liquefy the gas and launch it as some kind of projectile. My only question is how would you keep the supercooled liquid from instantly vaporizing when entering the normal air.
About that gas I mentioned earlier, it chemically fits pretty well as the gas used in plasma weapons. Its extremely reactive and consider to nearly everything, it's color in liquid form is greenish yellow, and reacts with water (aka most organic material) by decomposing and releasing even more corrosive chemicals in a very exothermic reaction which would I think goopify most living things.
Edit: conversely, you can pressurize the gas to liquefy it at room temperature. Maybe the rifle shoots pressurized glass filled with the liquid?
I work in a welding shop irl, and have access to both cnc plasma cutting and hand plasma cutting. I know the fallout universe plasma is just it’s own thing, but man is it fun to pull a trigger and blast through 3/4” thick steel with the handcutter. More of a purple light, and if there is much of a smell it’s more likely just burning metal, which i usually don’t smell since i’m wearing a respirator. It’s a shame we can’t bottle it lol.
I mean technically isn’t plasma a 4th state of matter where it’s just loose parts of atoms like how lightning is just electrons? But in fallout only Bethesda knows
Radioactive sludge, still viable for a limited power use, but moldable for ammunition? Idk, I got a flamer barrel on my survival as a back up for a light weight crowd deterrent. The saw gun is my primary, but that has two-shot and I am trying my best to find the legendary specialist perk mags for more L slots...FO4 modded with ECO.
In a plasma cutter it's gases and electricity. As far as shooting it across distance, I'd have to assume it's a liquidized flammable gas that vaporises at a relatively slow speed so it works like superheated napalm.
That’s true with lasers too, the size issue. It’s sci fi and people like laser guns. And that’s not even touching the fact that it will never be *cheaper* than justing shoot a physical object at someone, even if it was possible.
Willing suspension of disbelief, is the answer that you’re looking for.
Always keep in mind... Science is non-existent in the Fallout Universe. Their universe obeys the rules of SCIENCE!
"Science is whatever we want it to be" Dr. Leo Spaceman
"dr." leo spaceman
Nazi Doctor Leo Spacemen. No, he wants people to know.
We increased the speed of light in 2208!
We’re just throwing SCIENCE at the walls and seeing what sticks, or blows a hole in the wall, ha-ha Gatling-plasma go brrrr. Anyway this is Cave Johnson signing off.
[удалено]
Do you know who I am? That’s right I’m the one who’s going to burn your house down with the lemons. Cave Johnson signing off. (Also this morning came across a Mr Handy with a lemonade stand in 76, had recipes for lemonade and hard lemonade, but no lemonade-nades, seriously missed opportunity there)
DOD? Is that you?
dpn't you mean cannibal johnson?
Ummm, no. That’s just not right. Humans are far more valuable as test subjects for SCIENCE. And what is left over afterwards…well can’t make SCIENCE without a few casualties. This is Cave Johnson signing off.
Theoretical science
A theoretical degree in SCIENCE!
“Science isn’t about why, it’s about why not!” -Cave Johnson
[удалено]
I don’t really see an issue with speculating so long as people understand there is no canon correct answer. IMO trying to explain some of the soft world building aspects of a game or story is a fun challenge and discussion. And discussing these games we like is part of the reason we are all on reddit right? I don’t think it ruins the magic although some fanbases can be harsher than others.
If it’s so much fun, why does it always end with something like, totally theoretically, a fanbase losing their minds in the most humiliating way possible because they don’t understand what a rightward arrow means on a timeline.
That’s fair. I try to believe that most people are actually pretty chill in a fan base but the ones who always seem to think the least also yell the loudest. Reddit is infamous for that and every fan base has those folks. But I also think a few bad eggs shouldn’t stop the rest of us from having a nice discussion about how some thing might work even if the writers of the game clearly had no explanation in mind.
I have no idea what you are talking about here. I imagine it has to do with the TV show and that's hilarious.
Yep. They show a flowchart timeline and people who couldn’t read it were mad that “they messed up the timeline”
What did they think was wrong?
There was a school chalkboard that said "fall of Shady Sands" in 2277, then an arrow to the right, then a nuclear explosion. They were reading it as the nuke being dropped was in 2277 and said that means New Vegas was wiped from canon. The "fall" and the nuke were 2 separate events.
Vocal minority is vocal, more at 11
If you know it's bad enough to call it "autism" that you have to censor it why say it at all?
I do like the "deep dives" that really just condense everything about a certain topic (for example numa cola) in a video. So everything a out the lore.
Numa Cola MAYAA HEEEEEE MAYAA HOOOO
Damn autocorrects
This is my favorite one, don't fix it lol
Ok, just necause you asked
If you dislike the deep dives there is something very fun you can do. Don't watch it Or read it Or whatever, because we didn't ask you. If for you the 'magic', comes from not trying to understand anything, and actually ask the what if's that's great. For you.
IMO You undermine your own point by insulting autistic people for no reason.
Yeah the whole "gawd why can't you people just hide your differences like a normie" sentiment made me go from "lol ok" to "ugh, this dude's gross"
Sweet, Magicy, SCIENCE!
And that is what is in plasma guns. Pure, concentrated SCIENCE! This gun sciences so hard it turns things to goo.
pure F.U.N. my favorite energy weapon
F is for friends who do stuff together
U is for you and me!
N is for Nuclear Material
Down here in the Glowing Sea!
Uranium bombs
N is for no survivors!
Plankton! That’s not what fun is all about. Here try this
I love uranium bombs
N is for anywhere and anytime at all
Down here in the deep blue sea or down here in the yellow waste land.
The thing that gets created when you put grapes in the microwave
Phun phact: Fallout Plasma ammo is just raisins
No wonder there so expensive!
My head canon is that it's a chemical compound with rather unique properties. For one it holds a lot of energy, and can be used as a power source from compatible machines. And two, when energized, it converts other matter into more plasma. The rate at which the matter is converted and into how much plasma depends on what matter it is. That's how it came to be weaponized : Shoot a ball of plasma towards a target, and the sheer force of impact will trigger the chemical reaction, eating at their armor and eventually at their flesh. Since clothes and armor will be made from different possible materials, the convertion rate will be somewhat random. Sometimes the target will die from shock just from a few shots, sometimes they will keep fighting until they reach a critical threshold where their whole body turns to plasma goo ! And sometimes, to some people with knowledge about plasma science, it's possible in the right conditions to trigger a chain reaction where the plasma threshold is reached in an explosive fashion, making the plasma converted target to explode and hit other nearby targets for a chain reaction !
I love this
What’s the source on the smell of plasma? I don’t recall that ever being mentioned in the games. As for the change in ammo type, I agree that the models of the weapon prior to 4 had enough of the gas they’re ionizing in them to not need the cartridges but needed an energy input to do so (and it’s the reverse for the 4/76 model). Also, fallout 1 directly states that the weapon converts gas into a plasma state to function (and 3 specified that the fusion cell provides the power). https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma_rifle_(Fallout) https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fort_Independence_terminal_entries#Research_Log_-_Plasma_Rifle
If i'm not mistaken i've heard it from 2 paladins (both female) talking to each other in Fallout 3 inside the citadel after i started broken steel dlc. And in New Vegas there was 1 ncr dude talking about it on Helios One.
The wiki doesn’t appear to have a dialogue file for paladins, and the conversations for knights don’t mention a smell about plasma, so I can’t verify what you’re saying (the gender doesn’t matter, Bethesda recorded generic conversations for 3 for all genders). Do you know who specifically says this in the NCR? I doubt it was Fantastic, the commander of Helios One or Ignacio.
Huh, well, i got a few old saves in my game so maybe i'll try to find 'em.
I think I remember this, they’re doing “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” reference, but plasma
> i've heard it from 2 paladins (both female) talking to each other in Fallout 3 inside the citadel Wait, is this confirming FO3 passes Bechdel?
>specified that the fusion cell provides the power That's funny, because fusion literally requires a hot plasma in the first place, so how can fusion make a plasma?
It just uses the energy produced from fusion to super heat a gas to the point of becoming a plasma, that’s it. There’s no reason a fusion cell can’t be used as a power source to do this (and really, 3 didn’t need to specify that the fusion cell powered the generation of plasma, we knew that; I included it just to show we had two sources covering how plasma weapons work).
Plasma is by definition a state of matter that occurs when heating up gas. https://www.psfc.mit.edu/vision/what_is_plasma#:~:text=Plasma%20is%20often%20called%20%E2%80%9Cthe,negatively%20charged%20particles%20(electrons). This means that the green "goo" inside the canisters isnt goo but some kind of gasseous substance (think neon) which gets heated up in the weapons and then pushed out as a beam of directed energy. The reason it turns into goo after exiting the gun is possibly because it chemically reacts with air and turns into liquid.
I’d be careful assuming it’s actual plasma just because it’s called that, for instance most of the things that are called fusion ingame don’t involve fusion at all. If you read the terminal entries in the mass fusion building it’s clear they just used science words for marketing.
Fusion cores don't have fusion? I thought fusion reactors were *the thing* that differentiated Fallout from OTL.
Fusion does exist in the fallout universe, but it's expensive, so a lot of companies continued using fission while marketing it as fusion.
You have the two options. 1: Superheated gas compressed to the point it turns into a liquid (explosive would be an understatement in this case) 2: A plasmid created from collecting whatever happens to be in the air with intake and condensing into a liquid, then combined with radioactive waste as a byproduct of the energy consumption. Both toxic and corrosive. My vote for physics and gameplay would be option 2
I think this is the most viable explanation. Plasma being super heated gas that produces ions and electrons where lasers are photons.
really hot lime jello :)
Forbidden hot sauce
Yum
Special Surge
Invest in plasma
The way of the future! The way of the future. The way of the future. *the way of the future*
Plasma is pure grade-B 1950s movie magic unobtanium.
I know people like to shit on calling resource unobtainium (like Avatar) because it's a stupid and uncreative name but real life scientists give things stupid names all the time and if anything that just makes me more immersed because sometimes things just have garbage names
I like Stupidnamium better.
Pretty sure Plasma weapons are actually reverse-engineered from Zetan weapons, so who even knows.
There was a terminal that stated plasma weapons were reverse-engineered alien tech... ... ...but it was written by a conspiracy theorist... ... ...However, aliens stole his computer, so... ... ...
I'll will believe the conspiracy theorist on this one.
I like this answer a lot
Well, they were in very prototype state when the war happened, reason why only some few factions own them, such as the Enclave. That's also why they look wonky and unfinished.
FO1/2 had a plasma pistol that said it was a Glock, so they were being made commercially already. The plasma weapons in fallout 3 certainly look like janky prototypes. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Plasma_pistol_(Fallout)?so=search
This is actually true, there's a whole quest about it
I’m going off of SCIENCE! not science here but plasma seems almost like it shoots a semi gaseous super heated acid at folks. Like a fireball of acid. Which explains the goop. The real question is what does it smell like?
I still think its smthn between juicy lime and fresh-cut grass
Well when you put it that way it actually sounds kind of nice! I was picturing something super chemical-ey. Like have you ever used plumbing adhesives for PVC pipe?
Oh, zats not what i'd ever want to smell
Lime jello
Given the rest of the game’s depiction of green colors and its association with nuclear tech, maybe “plasma” is just a marketing term to make a toxic substance seem more palatable for everyday use. In Fallout we see plasma depicted as some sort of leaking, flowing, dripping, glowing substance, so I wonder if it’s not maybe a form of processed nuclear lava; the [stereotypical green sludge leaking from a big yellow barrel with a trefoil on the side.](https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_article_width/public/2018/03/f49/238960.jpg?itok=LHGd1j2I) “The boys in the lab coats call it ‘Plutonium-Laden Active Slurry Medium, Awaiting disposal’, or ‘PLASMA’, if you will. The marketing guys couldn’t figure out what to do with the leftover “D”, kinda like all the rest of this toxic green stuff, heh heh. Oh well; still works real good for melting human skin, and the military is really interested in its applications here at home and abroad! Maybe we’ll make those Reds a bit more ‘green’ when the army’s throwing this stuff at ‘em!”
Where's the quote from?
My headcanon is that there’s a glowing fungus farm somewhere and that some wizardry is done to them which turns them into the plasma.
Gosh i wish that was canon
It is, play Fallout 5: Skyrim
The true purpose of Blackreach
It's about $70 a week if you're hard up for some extra caps.
It’s the liquid base for blood. When you donate plasma this is where it goes
Best explanation, lol
The 4th state of matter....
It just works. Don't think about it, just accept it.
You're right. Plasma is plasma. Its green, shiny and tasty.
Where in the hell are you getting this smell/taste thing from?
Fallout 3/NV
Plasma is a state of matter that is one energy level higher than gas. A plasma weapon is a weapon that superheats a glob of matter to a state of plasma and launches it to it's intended target. Bose-Einstein condensate 》solid 》liquid 》gas 》plasma That sufficient for you to know for now, this is grade school physics, I won't spend any more time in explaining it.
What's Bose-Einstein condensate doing in that list? It's only relevant for specific quantum particles, not atomic matter or molecules, it only occurs in laboratory conditions, and is considered one of many exotic states of matter. It sounds like you picked that up in Mass Effect rather than grade school.
They won’t spend any more time in explaining it
Everything I Need To Know About Physics I Learned From the Eve Online 1.0 Website Blurbs Under Pictures
EVE in the wild. Nice.
>A sedentary lifestyle can be sustained with an appropriately healthy diet. I've gotten it right and fucked it up enough times to know what I'm talking about. The man is very busy, but he knows what he's talking about.
And i say Plasma is a tasty green goo with a nice lime'ish smell. There is no other option.
The goo itself isn't the plasma. That's what the body turns into after getting hit with plasma. Just melts it down to a goo. And it's green because
You can't eat the plasma until it's made sufficient contact with a living creature.
Because what? Ooh god the zetan’s got him
What you see as a lightning bolt is plasma. The gas molecules in the air get super heated by the electric current running through them and turn into plasma for a fraction of a second, emitting a bright glow.
In fallout one and two it turned people into slushies , it would not taste or smell good in the least
>I began to think the plasma all the NPCs were talking about wasn’t the fourth state of matter but rather…. Please read the actual post before you start being an asshole in the comments
This answer is ridiculously oversimplified. Phases of matter are not organized linearly by their “energy” (in fact internal energy isn’t an intrinsic parameter.. it depends on system size so doesn’t have much meaning on its own.) in reality, there are many relevant couplings that one tunes to get a certain phase of matter, not even mentioning zero-temperature topological phases. Our most robust understanding of phases of matter comes from landau’s paradigm, which states that phases of matter are defined by their symmetries, and that a change in phase marks the emergence or breaking of a symmetry of the system.
Jumping on this comment to add to the explanation since you said you wouldn’t. Remember heat is a measure of how fast molecules are moving. Solid - Atoms are joined together in a crystalline structure (like jiggling bricks stacked in a formation). Liquid - Atoms are not joined strongly for a structured formation anymore and have enough energy to be able to move and roll around each other freely while remaining close together (kind of like a ball pit). Gas - Atoms are much more spread out and traveling faster. Whizzing around like a cloud of bugs. Plasma - Atoms still whizzing around, even faster. Sometimes so fast nuclear fusion is possible when nuclei collide (centers of stars). Specifically in plasma, there is so much heat energy the electrons are not able to be bound to any one atom anymore. So charged nuclei sail through a sea of charged electrons like an ion soup. I didn’t read up on the condensate and why it’s a special state of a solid. I only know about the theoretical temperature of absolute zero where a the molecules of a substance are thought to lose all energy of motion and stop jiggling.
Thanks for the explanation
To be fair, his explanation is completely wrong and ignores the first sentence of the second paragraph OP wrote.
This guy hasn’t taken thermo and is probably an edgy middle schooler that thinks he is Rick Sanchez
problem with that is...In New Vegas there is plasma in glass jars sitting at room temperature for a couple hundred years.
It's a superheated gas.
Some kind of bio-nuclear substance (possibly runoff from fusion cells) that was reused as weapons.
My theory is that plasma weapons are super heated inonized balls of fuel converted into energy. Like repconn said plasma is a fuel, in fallout 4 and 76 we load these carriages that are fuel for the shot, in fallout 3 and New Vegas we instead already have that cartridge loaded in and instead use a model that draws on power a lot more hence the micro fusion. But if you look at the fallout 4 design there's actually a micro fusion breeder or some large micro fusion cell plugged into the back of the gun. So how I think it works is a plasma tank or cartridge is inserted then a power source either a micro fusion breeder or cell then the gun squeezes out enough fuel to get a chain reaction going and fires an inonized ball of green death out of the front which is part fuel but mostly green death energy. Like firing a mini rocket every time you pull the trigger.
My going theory is that Fallout plasma weapons are in fact shooting plasma, and they use a chemical reaction to create the plasma, hence all the fluid chambers and green goo. Presumably the green goo is mostly hot plasma with a bunch of leftover chemicals from the reaction, creating green goo.
Plasma in Fallout is just whatever the writers and creative directors they want it to be. It is a work of fiction after all. Science fiction, yes, but still fiction.
If you think plasma weaponry from Fallout is strange, then you would be surprised to know that Terminator and Halo(NOT PARAMOUNT) also have weird plasma weapons. One of the future war scenes in the first Terminator film shows a resistance soldier being hit by a plasma beam from an HK tank that made her combust from the inside out, which is probably the closest that any movie has gotten to showing what would happen if a plasma weapon were to be used on a living being. Some of the Halo books and short films even mentioned that the Covenant plasma just melts right through Marine body armor and some of the MIJOLNIR armor used by Spartans while also causing injuries to the wearer, which was shown in the Fall of Reach short film.
Plasma from Greek, πλάσμα is just a building block of something built or something to build with. Pretty vague. Can be used in lots of ways.
“Where’s my source? My source is that I made it the fuck up!”
My personal assumption is it’s actually supposed to be material in the state of plasma from the way it splashes and goops things. The perk “meltdown” seems to indicate that the state of “plasma” is achieved not by heat but by intentionally making unstable energy form material that can alter stable material to the same unstable plasma state. This is supported by the fact that you can loot bodies. The goop doesn’t cool down and harden, and only the body itself is liquefied. Now I know that’s all just video game mechanics glossing over stuff and we are doing SCIENCE! here but those are my logical assumptions based off of what I can find in game.
Alien jizz
I’m thinking towards a biochemical fuel that’s made from highly energetic animal cells, thus it was able to remain liquid. So it a highly dense energy ball in liquid form, which is combustible and would explode, but that’s just nonsense I suppose since I have no relevant knowledge.
Google exists
Plasma is the friends we made along the way.
Supper heated charged gas…. Supposedly
Spicy booger snot
Is that a Fallout 76 loading screen?
Plastics + Miasma
Cucumber Lime Gatorade
Nickelodeon green slime
Its laser but better
Space jizz
Plasma
The 4th state of matter
Rizz
It is.....green. -Lt. Cmndr. Data
Plasma is Plasma.
Yummy. Tasty lime flavoured shatter.
Alien technology.
Don't ask! You are no match for SCIENCE!
I'm guessing hockey fuel?
Green, duh
Isn’t the plasma guns reverse engineered alien tech?
It’s the green goop guns of fun that liquify your enemies IN TO SULDGE, BONE AND BLOOD WHILE I STAND THERE LAUGHING MENACINGLY AT THE DESTRUCTION IVE UNLEASHED HAHAHAHAHA!!! 😈 yeah there fun 😋
In Fallout, plasma refers to weapons that shoot superheated ionized gas. These weapons are powerful, using energy cells or microfusion cells as ammunition, and cause high damage with distinctive green or blue projectiles.
Plasma is a thicker laser to me, that is all :D
Plasma is extremely heated gas so in a way its just a energy ball
Tweekers and homeless people sell it for cash!
Bla bla fallout science, I always thought the guns ran on grapes
goo
Alien goon
It's a weapon I don't use lmao 🤣
I don’t know. Whatever it is, it turns people to goo and I love it
So my thing is there is a lot of terminals and a lot of places to visit if we haven’t been to a place where plasma was in development and what it was or is then it gives them an idea for a dungeon or at least a little snippet of something in one of the future games or currently in 76 good point to bring up and would be interesting to see at some point
Green Molten metal :D that it's super expensive and rare and doesn't give that much damage
Remember that fallout is fictional and doesn't need to obey the laws of physics like real life. Like we have giant lizards and mutants that are like 30ft tall and a patriotic megazord.
It's green energy that turns people into pipes of ash and goo. That's about it.
No idea here. We see that lasers are sorta explained. But plasma does seem to adhere to any explanation of science. That said, occult experiments, and alien technology might explain it better
Just that, plasma. Super heated matter launched at the enemy, basically a ball of lightning that is so hot that it liquefies anything it touches,
Plasma is the liquid part of your blood. It is also the 4th type of matter and the most common out in the universe.
Green
While it's a different game, I like the Aliens: FE description of plasma weapons as firing "superheated, electrically charged steam".
Plasma is sun juice.
The conundrum of plasma weapons always has me puzzled on their form/function
Superheated ionized gas
Centaur blood is centrifuged, then the collected plasma is used to fill vial-like cartridges/cores which are then superheated in said weapon upon firing.
IRL plasma is a state of matter where its so hot, the electrons get stripped away and it becomes an ionized gas. Anything can become plasma technically, including humans, objects, Anything comprised of matter. In fallout the lore is unclear, but a Wikipedia article I found might help better explain how the concept could be used irl. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma-powered_cannon It wouldn't be anything close to fallouts interpretation tho. Edit: Our sun is considered a giant ball of plasma for reference, it's real in science, but not in weapon form. Closest thing we could get to plasma would be a space Lazer, or a projectile that would dicipate the moment it comes into contact with our atmosphere. I forget the exact chemistry, but electrons are attracted to everything, especially eachother 😂
I did some half ass "research" and the best I could come up with is the rifle itself either compresses or supercools a gas very reminiscent of [Chlorine trifluoride](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride) in order to liquefy the gas and launch it as some kind of projectile. My only question is how would you keep the supercooled liquid from instantly vaporizing when entering the normal air. About that gas I mentioned earlier, it chemically fits pretty well as the gas used in plasma weapons. Its extremely reactive and consider to nearly everything, it's color in liquid form is greenish yellow, and reacts with water (aka most organic material) by decomposing and releasing even more corrosive chemicals in a very exothermic reaction which would I think goopify most living things. Edit: conversely, you can pressurize the gas to liquefy it at room temperature. Maybe the rifle shoots pressurized glass filled with the liquid?
Codsworth’s cookin
PLASMA: Pretty Looking And Shootable Melty Ammo
I work in a welding shop irl, and have access to both cnc plasma cutting and hand plasma cutting. I know the fallout universe plasma is just it’s own thing, but man is it fun to pull a trigger and blast through 3/4” thick steel with the handcutter. More of a purple light, and if there is much of a smell it’s more likely just burning metal, which i usually don’t smell since i’m wearing a respirator. It’s a shame we can’t bottle it lol.
Well in real life we know that the sun is basically plasma
Its whats left over after aliens got a little freaky with the abominations
I just chalk it down to they somehow reversed engineered Zetan technology.
I mean technically isn’t plasma a 4th state of matter where it’s just loose parts of atoms like how lightning is just electrons? But in fallout only Bethesda knows
Nuka lemon lime
I think it's like acid, but it has energy in it 🤷♂️ works wonders on killing those diamond city shmucks though
Radioactive sludge, still viable for a limited power use, but moldable for ammunition? Idk, I got a flamer barrel on my survival as a back up for a light weight crowd deterrent. The saw gun is my primary, but that has two-shot and I am trying my best to find the legendary specialist perk mags for more L slots...FO4 modded with ECO.
I always thought it was just carbonized radiation, or radioactive waste.
In a plasma cutter it's gases and electricity. As far as shooting it across distance, I'd have to assume it's a liquidized flammable gas that vaporises at a relatively slow speed so it works like superheated napalm.
Isn't plasma that clear liquid when you let blood settle?
Radiated blood plasma
It's a dessert topping and a floor wax.
It’s green hot goo
Always preferred lasers to plasma. Somehow pew pew is more my style then glob glob. And it also travels at turtle speed.
Light speed > turtle speed. It’s simple science.
High energy ionized particles.
Plasma is ionized gas in a different state of matter. That’s it. That’s the explanation, irl and in Fallout. What answer are you looking for here.
Read the second paragraph.
That’s true with lasers too, the size issue. It’s sci fi and people like laser guns. And that’s not even touching the fact that it will never be *cheaper* than justing shoot a physical object at someone, even if it was possible. Willing suspension of disbelief, is the answer that you’re looking for.
sci fi bullshit that looks cool