By David Chapnick and Liam Smith
Period 1
"At the focal point of two beams, it sets up a field in which molecules can't hold together anymore. Electrons can't be shared... The field spreads out in a sphere, but it gets weaker the farther it spreads. Except that where it actually runs into a lot of molecules, it gets stronger and starts over" (272).
We picked this technology because of its ties to both molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics. This technology was used in the book Ender's Game to destroy an entire planet, and as the technology is described in the book, it's only practical application is as a weapon of mass destruction. As such, there are definite ethical questions regarding its use in warfare. As far as its feasibility, it certainly is not possible to create such a field with modern technology, however, it might be possible with future technology to set up an electromagnetic field that disrupts the intermolecular forces binding molecules together. Also, electron-positron annihilation might cause the same effect, but we would need to do more research to discover more. While this technology is certainly not the most practical technology envisioned in science-fiction, it raises questions about the advancement in particle physics and quantum mechanics and the need to better understand the interactions between the basic building blocks of the universe.
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