Why cant we have phasers or laser blasters like in sci-fi movies instead of guns?
In: 5
We simply don’t know how to build them.
We can and do have [mounted laser weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/SEQ-3_Laser_Weapon_System), but their power requirements make them infeasible for use as portable/handheld weapons.
They also look nothing like the phasers or laser blasters in science fiction. A real laser is a continuous beam of light, and may not even be of a wavelength visible to the naked eye (US military uses infrared). In movies they are very visible variously-coloured individual projectiles.
In the Star Wars universe these were retconned to be described as “bolts of plasma”, and while that makes them more palatable in a “doesn’t break the known laws of physics” kind of way, we still have no idea how to make anything like it, even ignoring any power supply limitations we would have to overcome to make a real alternative. I believe Star Trek phasers also use the “plasma” explanation without any further details on how it actually works.
The closest real-world equivalent we have is not a laser, but a [plasma railgun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_railgun). For military use it’s a [work in progress](https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/marauder-was-the-us-militarys-first-plasma-railgun-and-it-might-have-worked/).
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