Post #3: The Little Doctor Device - By David Chapnick and Liam Smith

“Within three seconds the entire planet burst apart, becoming a sphere of bright dust, hurtling outward... the field taking apart every ship in its path,erupting each one into a dot of light before it went on... A lump of dirt was growing as gravity drew much of the debris downward again...much of its mass was now a cloud still flowing outward” (Ender’s Game 295).

The Little Doctor Device has the ability to create a sphere of energy that prevents atoms from sharing electrons and negating the intermolecular attractions between molecules on a global scale as Ender is able to use a single blast from the Little Doctor to destroy an entire planet. Due to the nature of this device (a field which expands outward and grows stronger when it comes into contact with matter), we concluded that this technology was not feasible.

We originally hypothesized two ways in which the intermolecular forces might be disrupted: electron positron annihilation, or some form of electromagnetic pulse. A positron is an antimatter particle, the antiparticle of the electron. Electron- Positron annihilation occurs when an electron and a positron collide in space. This collision causes the electron and positron to cancel each other out. However, with this cancellation of these subatomic particles, a mass of gamma ray photons are created in their places. We originally believed that this technology might be possible if the weapon created a beam of positrons that, when it came in contact with matter, produced enough energy in the form of gamma rays to excite the electrons and break the bonds between molecules. However, since the electron-positron reaction only produces gamma rays or quarks and does not produce more positrons, the field would not gain energy when it comes into contact with matter.

Similarly, an electromagnetic pulse would take tremendous amounts of energy to break the electromagnetic force between the molecules, and contrary to the Little Doctor Device, would lose energy when it came into contact with matter, as energy was exchanged to the valence electrons.

Since current technology has not been able to create and maintain anti-matter, and since modern EMP’s lack the power to generate a level of disruption on the atomic scale, this technology is not feasible.

Our group started by researching intermolecular forces and brainstorming a list of possible ways to generate a field similar to the Little Doctor. Later on, we discussed and narrowed down the list of possibilities to those we thought best suited the Little Doctor’s description.  Together, we wrote and edited the blog posts as we discussed the technology and its feasibility.

Works Consulted:

Brucat, P.J. “The Forces Between Molecules.” UF Department of Chemistry. University of Florida. Web. 9 October 2013.

“Electron/ Positron Annihilation.” The Particle Adventure- The Fundamentals of Matter and Force.  N.d. Lawrence- Berkeley National Laboratory. Web. 9 October 2013.

“Electron-Positron Annihilation.” Princeton.edu. N.d. Princeton University. Web. 15 October 2013.

“Fundamental Forces.” Hyperphysics. N.d. Georgia State University. Web. 9 October 2013.