A Blaster, along with the ray gun, is a standard science fiction weapon. Indeed the two terms could be considered synonymous, with ray gun being the older term. The concept of a death ray is generally portrayed as some form of directed energy weapon that projects energy at a person or object in order to destroy them. ... Many science fiction stories feature a variety of fanciful and not-so-fanciful weapons. ...

In science fiction literature or films, blasters are generally portrayed as hand held Directed Energy Weapons that can fire a beam of energy at an opponent sufficient to kill them. The blaster is often a replacement for guns and may vary from a small hand-held weapon to larger, and presumably more powerful, vehicle and ship or spacecraft mounted weapons. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Directed Energy Weapons fire a beam transferring energy to a target for a desired effect. ... This article is about firearms and similar devices. ...

The precise operating technology of a blaster is generally not explained in too much detail in the literature. However some form of laser, plasma or particle beam technology is generally apparent from the context, in most stories.

The effects of blasters change with the times and the perceptions of science and technology by the population in general, and science fiction authors. What is science? There are different theories of what science is. ... Technology (Gr. ...

When Isaac Asimov wrote The Foundation Series trilogy in the 1940s and early 1950s, his blasters were atomic-powered devices which let out a dazzling beam of high powered nuclear particles and reduced the target to smithereens. Later in the 1980s and 1990s Asimov wrote sequels to the trilogy where blasters were comparatively limp and puny things which could only disrupt the internal organs of humans and did so with nearly no visible effect and with only a small release of power. Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Isaac Asimov (c. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket First transistor Colossus, the worlds first totally electronic computer. ... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ...

In Forbidden Planet the starship crew were issued with blasters that could kill or vaporize, whilst operators of larger radio controlled weapons were referred to as "blastermen". A film poster for Forbidden Planet This article is about the movie Forbidden Planet. ... This article is about the ending of life. ... Evaporation is the process whereby atoms or molecules in a liquid state (or solid state if the substance sublimes) gain sufficient energy to enter the gaseous state. ...

In The Apocalypse Troll, David Weber described his version of a blaster as "... a capacitor-fed energy weapon which projects a pulse of plasma at the target. " David Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. ...

In the Bride of Chaotica episode of Star Trek: Voyager blasters were 30s looking things which let out a mortal electric ray with a zap-rich crescendo of sounds and exaggerated visual effects. This was in the context of a series within the series: One of the characters of the Trek series, Tom Paris, had created a string of holodeck adventures where he acted as Captain Proton, a 1930s style science fiction hero. It was a parody, within a "straight" show. The starship Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid-class starship. ... In the Star Trek fictional universe, the holodeck is a form of virtual reality. ... Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ...

The term "blaster" is more often used in the Star Wars universe. For the missile defense program, see Strategic Defense Initiative. ...

In many cases the weapons are not even called a blaster but by some other name.

See Also:

• Weapons of Star Wars
• Weapons of Star Trek