The vortex ring gun is an experimental non-lethal weapon for crowd control that uses high-energy vortex rings of gas to knock down people or spray them with marking ink or other chemicals.
The concept was explored by the US Army starting in 1998, and by some commercial firms. Knockdown of distant individuals currently seems unlikely even if the rings are launched at theoretical maximum speed, the speed of sound. As for the delivery of chemicals, leakage during flight is still a problem.
Weapons based on similar principles but different designs and purposes have been described before, typically using acetylene-air or hydrogen–oxygen explosions to create and propel the vortices.
Read more about Vortex Ring Gun: Operation
Famous quotes containing the words vortex, ring and/or gun:
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—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”
—Book Of Common Prayer, The. Solemnization of Matrimony, “Wedding,” (1662)
“I grew up in a tough neighborhood and we used to say ‘you can get further with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word.’”
—David Mamet, U.S. screenwriter, and Brian DePalma. Al Capone (Robert DeNiro)