The Terrifying REALITY of Plasma Weapons

This is the first in a two part series covering the brutal reality of what a Covenant invasion would look like. This week, we explore their weapons and how they might realistically work in the real world. We compare them to existing technologies we have sought to master ourselves, but lack the technology to do so. Plasma and Directed Energy Weapons would be brutal, could we hope to survive?

If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comments section below. I'd love to hear from you!

High Res Plasma Rifle Designed by the Team at Project Contingency
Halo © Microsoft Corporation
Halo Infinite OST © Gareth Coker, Joel Corelitz, and Curtis Schweitzer

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

[DarkBooger]

The main issue I have with plasma weapons in science fiction is that they are often confused with lasers or particle weapons which are completely different.

[duddude]

Could modern Earth survive the Covenant?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Haha, no.

[bobbyRC]

For all its flaws in pretty much everything, the one thing the Halo show gets correct is the way plasma weapons cause parts of the body to dislodge and explode into mist

[kaleb.soneal]

I think the constant change of how plasma weaponry works especially in space combat could be attributed to the unsc getting their hands on the tech later in the war

[EnclaveSOC-]

I do believe that the first Terminator movie showed the effects of plasma weapons when fired from one of the HK Tank drones, during Reese's nightmares that showed a soldier he was working with get incinerated from the inside out upon being struck by the plasma beam.

[mitwhitgaming]

Space Dock recently did a video on realistic partical weapons, which, as an amateur sci-fi writer myself, I found very useful.
Realistic partical weapons are almost scarier than what the Covenant has.

[kolinmartz]

Plasma in atmosphere would loose alot of heat instantaneously as soon as the magnetic containment is gone. At most it’s just gonna be a super high tech long range Molotov cocktail when used in atmosphere.

[PBST_RAIDZ]

Surprisingly the halo tv show actually had realistic plasma which was shown completely blowing off limbs installation 00 did a video on it

[Falloutwolf]

5:23 that little turn the ccs does here is so cool, i love that they included them in this mission

[scelonferdi]

For plasma beams relativity is on your side. If you get them close enough to c their own timeframe will be much slower, preventing (quick) expansion.

[davidsirmons]

So, closest thing to it in reality is 'ball lightning'. The lightning-spawned phenomenon has been sighted more in the last few years and posted on YT. 2 chinese physicists theorized it could happen when lightning occurs, by creating a spheroid of 'relativistic' electrons (spherical 'container') which have a strange attribute of containing microwave energy for a few seconds. These microwaves can be incredibly intense, upwards of 10k F. Historical sightings and accounts of ball lightning range from a floating object wandering until it hits something, then exploding and sometimes just burning the hit object, or sometimes shattering it. Other accounts describe an object moving very fast until it diminishes and disappears with a pop. So....if we can reproduce it in a lab one day, we might be able to weaponize it. Close range, huge damage, fast rate of fire.

[soverxigniv]

“Bright blue donut of hate”, I love imaging a blue plasma ring speeding at you and having comically angry face on it lol

[icyknightmare]

Plasma Rifle vs NATO standard infantryman: Let's assume a Covenant soldier shoots the infantryman center mass with a Type-25 plasma rifle. A modern ballistic plate would stop the plasma bolt. Clothing at and around the impact site will ignite, and rounds carried on a chest rig will start cooking off in their magazines from the extreme heat. The soldier's face, arms, and hands will be seriously burned as the plasma bolt splashes on his armor, loses coherence, and rapidly blooms out to dissipate. Probably not fatal, but he's definitely out of the fight.

Plasma strikes on non-protected body parts would immediately ignite any clothing around the impact site, cause extreme burns, flash vaporize bodily fluids, and cause secondary traumatic effects as the target's flesh is ripped apart by micro steam explosions at and under the impact site. He could probably survive one or two hits to extremities with immediate medical care, but that level of damage would be immediately incapacitating.

[prompthorizon_]

Halo games - marine gets shot by grunt with a plasma pistol, doesn't flinch and proceeds to turn grunt into corpse

Halo lore - Marine gets shot by grunt with a plasma pistol, torse gets melted off while armor boils into skin and muscle.

[TheBigCabezon]

Hello friends, I apologize for the later release and sounding congested, I fell sick this past week! Santa (read: Amazon) was kind to me, and I did make several audio upgrades. Please let me know what you think!

[eternal]

Tbh, I don't think we know whether covenant style plasma weapons are possible or not. They certainly aren't with today's technology, but what about for a civilization 1000+ years ahead of us that makes our scientific knowledge look like stuff you'd teach in elementary school?

[Betito]

I hate that it’s the show that has the “realistic” damage effects
Papa Microsoft isn’t letting 343 be violent and I know they wanna get violent

[peterhacke]

Warning, graphic description!: You don't even need to turn people into red steam using plasma/heat based weaponry. You can just turn a small part of them into steam, which will rapidly expand and cause a steam explosion, tearing the rest of them into bloody, half cooked pieces.

[bencowles]

the biggest problem with plasma-based weapons is that they only work inside an atmosphere and the dissipate incredibly fast in the vacuum of space. lasers have a lot of problems inside an atmosphere due to the blooming effect you mentioned. In space however lasers are more effective, but the power dissipates at extreme long range. good for opening the hull of a ship like a can opener at five miles but at a thousand miles or three thousand miles they will have difficulty unless they have a truly massive power source.
Mass drivers, gauss cannons, and rail guns are very effective both in space and in atmosphere. With a really good targeting system the range of a mass driver, gauss cannon, or rail gun is near infinite once the projectile is moving. It will keep going until it hits something. The biggest problem with those weapons is recoil. used in space thrusters would have to be fired to keep the ship from being pushed out of position depending on mass and the speed of the projectile being fired. missiles would also be a viable weapon in space. Yes, plasma cannons look flashy in the movies but in reality, they are limited and typically do not look like anything you see in games of movies. a missile with a plasma charge could be effective in space because basically your goal is to poke holes in your enemy's ship without having one blown in yours. Sudden depressurization would be the number one way of taking out an enemy ship. That or taking out their fuel source or primary propulsion which could be quite explosive. great video. have a good one

[waynemacleod]

IF the plasma beam had a light megnetizable particle carrier component its plausable the plasma would adhere to it producing a beam. mind you this would make quite the terrifying hybrid weapon. something you might find interesting is there is research into reducing blooming. one such method if phase correcting the laser. I went and looked cuz of your video.😁