For centuries, science fiction writers have looked to the future and wondered, “how do we destroy it?” It seems like sci-fi stories just aren’t complete if they don’t include highly advanced and destructive weapons.
How advanced the weaponry is, of course, depends on the time period depicted. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, a simple bone was picked up by an ape and used as the very first weapon. But most sci-fi weapons are more complicated than that.
Indeed, among the many things that make science fiction books and movies so popular are the new technologies and hypothetical weapons they introduce. These range from lightsabers to photon torpedoes, and everything in between.
The folks at Scifi-weapons.com have put together the ultimate arsenal of reality-warping weapons – and it’s not just random assortment like this one. They’ve taken it a step further by ranking the devices from the least powerful to the most powerful weapon in the universe. They actually worked with physicists and engineers on this infographic, which breaks down iconic weapons and their energy of devastation in joules, an energy measurement of “work done.”
In some cases, they drew data from source material or crunched the numbers to compare real life weapons with the destructive power of their science fiction counterparts. In others, they attempted to calculate energy requirements for destruction shown in movies and TV shows. And in the case of reality-warping, fantastic weapons from the limits of our imagination, they drew help from theoretical physics. Read how they did their calculations here!
The infographic compares a variety of iconic sci-fi weapons – from the F-Ray Gun in Futurama, to the Reality Bomb in Doctor Who – alongside real-world weapons from the U.S. Army for reference. Here you will find weapons from The Incredibles, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Halo, Cowboy Bebop, Transformers, and many more.
What is your favorite sci-fi weapon? Is it a Portal gun, Star Trek phaser, or perhaps the BFG 9000? Now you can find out how powerful they really are! We’ve included a preview below, and you can see the full visual here: http://scifi-weapons.com
Is there a Sci-Fi weapon that you wish had been included? Let us know in the comments below.