| From: | ZOMBIE@****.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Monowire [long] (was RE: Questions about stuff) |
| Date: | Tue, 14 Jan 1997 23:52:35 -0600 |
wrote:
* I'm not sure where I heard this, but I think I remember reading
* somewhere that monofil is a single molecular chain and can't be cut
* or broken except with a laser. I'm not too sure about how stretchy
* it is, either, so I doubt it would make very suitable clothing which
* has to stretch in order to keep from prohibiting movement. Maybe if
* you just made a monofilament _vest_ it would be more practical, but it
* would be leaving your arms free.
*
* -Q
The following was taken from Paolo's archive:
<MONOWIRE STUFF>
Monowire
Flipper is Dead
The UK cyberpunk Thinktank
By CHOPPER (CM5323@***.ac.uk)
_________________________________________________________________
Subject: Monowire. What is it?
From the books we can deduce its
1. very thin
2. very strong for its thickness
3. very sharp (see pt 1)
The name 'monomolecular' implys its a single long molecule..
My best guess is...
Its a BUCKYTUBE!
buckminsterfullerene is a football like sphere of 60 carbon atoms C 70
has a ring of 10 carbons between the two hemispheres, making it like a
rugby ball. This can be extended by adding more rings of carbon atoms
between the hemispheres into a filament.
The Japanese have already made nanofibres like this, but only
fractions of a mm long.
But if a Fullerene tube several meters long could be made, it would be
1. approx 7nm across (very thin)
2. as strong as diamond (approx) as it has a hexagonal graphite
structure. also, it would be flexible and shiny like graphite when
it catches the light.
In JM; the whip shines in the streelights.The only way to spot it is
when its moving.
For non-Chemists: Imagine a sheet of hexagons five hexes wide rolled
into a tube so the edges match up. Cap the ends with half footballs.
If that was made if carbon molecules, thats a Monofilament.
SR states that monowire DOES NOT conduct electricity.
The MonoWhip uses a lenght of Monowire as a flexible blade.
As the fibre is so fine it weights virtually nothing. The cutting
force is provided by the weighted tip which is swung past the target.
The weighted tip is either a glowing ball or a fingertip if the whip
is implanted. The weight is small and heavy to control the line.
The moving tip's kinetic energy is focused onto the monoline. As the
line is very thin, this gives even a slow swing enough cutting force
to sever plastics and flesh. Swing hard, with the full strenght of
your arm and a long lenght of line, the weight can get up to very high
speeds. And when the line hits it'll cut body armour, metal pipes and
plates, sever limbs, cut flesh, cartilage and bone.
The user must take great care when using the 'whip, as the monoline is
moving in a circle connected to there hand. Fumbled rolls, loss of
concentration or panic can cause the user to misjudge a swing and cut
themselves.
In combat, the whip is deadly. the wounds it causes are finer than any
cut, and you only feel them seconds after, as the synapses in your
nerves misfire.
The wire itself is so fine that special care must be taken in storage
and handling. The wire is stored on a reel of high density ceramic
('one of the new ono-sendai diamond analogs' to quote Gibson) and is
capped with a bead of the same ceramic.
Monowire is very light.
This means that you have to weight it to do damage. You must have a
force acting on the wire, either a weight pulling it or something
pushing onto it. If left without a force acting upon it, it'll just
sit there. So if you drop some, it'll stay on the floor
Monowire is very thin.
Only very dense materials like diamond analog ceramics, heavy dense
metals, etc, will stop it. If dropped it'll lie flat on the floor and
not cut into the floor
Monowire is very strong.
The Monoline has to be broken with a laser cutter. Monolines will not
cut each other (so reinforcing armour with monolines will stop
monowhips)
Uses of monowire
Invisable replacement for barbed wire
The monowire entanglement if very hard to spot (only tell by the light
catching the lines.) and if you run into it you could easily loose
your legs. If you advance into it slowly, you'll get cut lets and may
panic. If you pull back, the wire is pulled out by a diferent path
than it went in by, taking a chunk out of your leg. Unlike razorwire,
monowire will penetrate quite deeply and do serious injurys.
Stringing across doors/corridors
Again, running into the line will cut off your legs. 'Nicer' than
entanglements, as you don't fall legless and bleeding face first into
a tangle of monolines. But it still kills you.
Bullet with several lenghts of wire fixed to it (with little weights on the
other end)
When this hits, the monowire will be dragged on by the weights on the
other end. If it penetrates, this may cut chunks out of the wound
channel. If it lodges in the body, or stops on armour, the trailing
wire will wrap round, cutting at anything it meets. This makes a
medics job hell. they can't see the Wire in the wound until they start
cutting chunks from their fingers.
Two spring loaded monowire reels, one on each end of a monoline.
Fired from an pair of airguns, they trail the line between them. if
the reels are ratcheted, the line locks on impact and the weight of
the reels pulls it onto the target.
Reinforced Armour.
Most armys will issue arm and leg protectors reinforced with either
ceramics or monowire to stop the wire cutting in. This means that a
potentially fatal cut will snag on the wire and then either:
* the wearer stops / is tripped over
or
* the monoline pulls free and can whiplash freely. Luckily the only
weight on the line it the holder bead in the end...
Monowire is usually supplied in reels with self adhesive ceramic
eyelets prethreaded. And its Expensive.
Uses of monowire in CP literature and other soure material
* The Yak Hitmans implanted monowhip in 'Johnnie Mneumonic' is THE
reference for monowhip users
* Turner strings it up in the trees in 'Count Zero'
* Beuvoir uses it and a ceramic reel to make a slideline onto the
top of the projects in 'Count Zero'
* the 'Offiser Suisse' monowhip in 'voice of the Whirlwind'
* The Predators net in Predator II
* Dreams of flesh and sand. Monowire stilleto's, with static charged
monolines used as blades
* Games Workshop'dark future'. in one of the sidebars, a terrorist
puts halluc in the airducts and cross crosses monowire across the
emergency stairs. Panicing peaple fall down the stairs in chunks
_________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer
this article is a mix of materials science, articles in magazines,
cyberpunk fiction, supposition and guesswork. Even If its not 100%
accurate, I'd like to think it works in SR.
_________________________________________________________________
All the articles in the Shadowrun Archive are copyright of the
authors. Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation.
Original Shadowrun material Copyright 1994 by FASA Corporation. All
Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA
Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should
not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.
The Shadowrun Archive is mantained by Paolo Marcucci
(paolo@*********.it)
</MONOWIRE STUFF>
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