Talk:Energy shielding

I was pondering something while writing my most recent fanfiction, which will be finished hopefully by the release of Halo 3 for anyone interested, but I must repeat hopefully. How exactly do the energy shields accomplish what they do? Stopping projectiles, nullifying plasma charges, absorbing kinetic energy from explosions. Its all seeming very peculiar to me, and I would like some insight if thats not too much to ask. :)

I do have some thoughts on the matter, as I normally do on most things. Speculation mainly, but I do throw in a scientific fact every once in a while. Gives it some credit, doesn't it? ;)

1) Energy shields work in a work smiliar way to a field of electrical energy, which is not unlike a magnetic field in a sense of phenomena. A pulse of energy, which can be seen as the shield 'recharges' or more effectively put 're-establishes' itself, flows throughout the shield, ever perpetuating like a pendulum-effect. This shielded energy absorbs the impact and flow of Plasma, Kinetic dispersed energy such as a plasma grenade or fragmentation grenade's explosion, and physical projectiles such as bullets. The fact that I think it is an electrical or magnetic based system is because of the properties that they share with what the shielding in Halo provides. They both act in a vacuum and they propogate with finite speed, which is shown as how the shield cannot immediately re-establish themselves and need time to re-eastablish once the field of flow is broken. Yes, it's not canon, but it's a good guess. I think at least. Oh well, if you could understand that, please leave a comment so I can add you to the Smart List. :)

2) They are just magical that way, and thats good enough for me. Why over-complicate something when there's no need.

I had a third idea, but I think it merged its way into the first one. Thats strange, I should keep my ideas on a leash. Oh well. Have fun with that. ;)

Love,

A friend of a friend


 * User:CaptainAdamGraves

RE: Physics of Shields
I am afraid I must interject negatively to your comment.

I don't feel that shields are "capture" type technology, like pendulums that absorb energy and recharge. If so, shields wouldn't recharge from kinetic impacts. They'd just stay dead: most definately not the case. Does it mean that one that takes a direct plasma bolt that dies will have one's MJOLNIR armor's shields recharging after he/she dies at a rate faster than if the person had taken a little plasma rifle shot? DOes the extent a shield is lower determine how fast it pops up? In my experiences, I'm very sure the rate stays constant no matter what energy hits you.

I believe that shields are a projection of energized particles from several projector points, that have quantum spins and trajectories across MJOLNIR or Elite Exposure Armor that cancel incoming particles. Since plasma bolts appear to do more damage to shields, this means that the spins of these enigmatic shield-particles are more vulnerable to misalignment from energy bursts. When a shield goes down, I believe that the sparks across one's body armor are simply proximal bursts to restart a deflector shield: energizing pulses. When the particles are reprojected, the shield goes up again.

These shields are also molded by magnetic fields, I believe, to contour around the user's body armor. A surface tension of particles is probably maintained so that the shield doesn't propogate with infinite speed outwards in diminishing desnity away from the user: that'd drain the user's power sources.

Of course, none of this is canon.

And Captain Graves, I write fanon too...=D...wanna exchange?

Cheers,

 Relentless  Recusant  00:51, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Fact or Fiction
This is just me acknowledging that someone disputed some fact in the article, but didn't bother to tell us what. I read the article briefly, and found nothing that warranted the Fact or Fiction template, so I am removing it. If there really is something, then post it here.--Rot 2025 7.12.06

Energy Shields (disscusion)
The real thing that should throw people off is that the shield is designed to repel all matter it touches or all matter that touches it. Since that is the case when ever a Spartan jumps, 1000Lbs+ of pressure is put on the shield and should drain it, since a melee attack from an elite can take down the shield, and I don't think an elite can throw a punch with the force of 1000Lbs. Also note that when a Spartan holds a weapon in his hand, why doesn't the shield glow as he/she holds it. And if there is a gap either in the hand and feet area of the shield, it would give an opening that can lead to the fall(death) of the person wearing in the armor, it would also be very hard to hold things since the shield doesn't let anything through unless it is like the bubble shield which is suppost be of human origin, which is hard to believe since the brutes use it all the time and i still don't know how they got it.

Shield Life
I have heard that after 15 shield depletions/recharges in halo 2, the shield stops working,is that true? Not that anyone will ever live that long anyway mind you.--Mac10&amp;Cheese 18:42, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I've never seen that happen, and shield drains are very common, I bet you would drain your shield 15 time on one of the longer levels, like Regret on the higher difficulties. -- ED ( talk )(shockfront) 04:04, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thats just what i've heard,But it could be true.I mean you won't live that long in multiplayer.--Mac10&amp;Cheese 03:47, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Speculation
When full body shielding or non-visible shielding is struck, it seems to jump into place or at least show a deflection. Its as if the whole shield 'hardens' i.e. increasing in density in a manner that attempts to deflect incoming damage. Naturally, it is limited by scale, power supplies, etc.

Given that at least MJOLNIR shielding is derived from Jackal shield guantlets, that would explain it.

As for how the shields work, I imagine that it is composed of plasma held between two opposing magnetic fields. When combined with a motion sensor or RADAR, the incoming force is sensed by the system, and gives the largest amount of energy it can to attempt to deal with threat. Perhaps this is done via pulsing the energy to the plasma at a level that best deals with threat.

The specific reaction caused by some shields seems similar to what is seen in plasma globes, which have gases inside charged into plasma by electricity. The heat and attraction of the plasma filaments upon contact with the glass is cuased by the fact that the body is a conducting object, and that the plasma inside is constantly shifting charge and position due to internal movement and air pressure.

The plasma seeks out a conducting object, and the glass and the rest of the device in conjunction with your hand forms a complete circuit. Perhaps that is how the shield works; it reacts with projectiles and plasma in the same manner, since they would be conducting objects or gases.

Damage caused by heat and other factors would be dealt with via the plasma absorbing and dispersing that energy like a buffer. Naturally, any damage incurred would weaken the shield, as less energy can be supplied etc.

--Exalted Obliteration 02:27, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

RE: RE: Shield physics
I think the shields behave most like a magnetically confined field of plasma. This is somewhat like your idea, so I guess this could be qualified as expanding on your idea.

First a strongly ionized gas, likely hydrogen or deuterium is released and pulled back towards the generators by a magnetic field. It is released to the side and pulled inwards, causing it to orbit the generators, flowing around it like wind in a hurricane. The plasma is in a rather delicate balance, pulled in by magnetism and pushed out by centrifugal force in equal measure.

The plasma could be heated by an AC electric current, which would also help damage ballistic projectiles. When struck by projectiles or plasma, the electric field would be disrupted, so the shield could not recharge until it was reestablished. This explains why it has to wait until it can recharge and does not recharge when projectiles are passing through it.

When a round enters a shield, it is rapidly heated by contact with the shield, vapourising it while ionizing it. This disperses the energy of the round into a cloud of vapour that is pulled to the side and even more dispersed by the magnetic field that holds the plasma in place, nullifying the weapon's damage but cooling the plasma and removing some of it.

When a plasma bolt hits it, the electromagnetic pulse interferes with the magnetic field of the shield, causing a failure in the confinement system and releasing some of the plasma. The pulse also raises the pressure and electric charge of the shield plasma it contacts to where it is too much for the shield to handle, disrupting the delicate balance between the electromagnets and centrifugal force and causing the plasma to be lost.

The suits that use it already store deuterium and tritium for their on-board reactors, so there is no reason why they couldn't not use some of it for their energy shields as well. This would also mean while the shield is on the reactors use a tremendous amount of energy to maintain the shield and take a tremendous amount of fuel to recharge it.

There are a few problems with this theory:

1. A melee would carry right through the shield without so much as slowing down due to their massive momentum, the shield would not absorb damage but rather damage the weapon. This is not so in game.

2. A powerful projectile or any melee would cause the shield to backlash and burn the user, which does not happen in game.

3. Heat would do no damage to shields, in fact heated projectiles or fluids (such as the ammunition of spikers or flamethrowers, respectively) would be more vulnerable to shields than non-heated or cooled projectiles. This is not so in the games.

4. The shields would be less effective in colder environments, particularly environments where cold solids and liquids come into contact with the shield. They would burn more energy and loose it to the environment, raising the damage done by incoming projectiles and slowing the charge time. Yet, in places like sidewinder and snowbound you can walk in the show without loosing power or leaving steam and pools of water in your wake.

5. Anything brought into the shield, such as stored equipment and weapons would interfere with it and be damaged. Explosives would be set off, incendiaries would burn, etcetera. The only way to get around this is to make holes in the shield, holes that simply don't exist in game.

6. The shield could not cover the bottom or sides of the feet because the ground would interfere with it.

7. It would not work under water, the plasma would be absorbed by the water as would the electricity. The shield would be drained instantaneously in a big puff of steam and could not recharge. Yet, the shield is unaffected by water in game.

8. The shield would glow at least faintly at all times, obscuring visibility, while creating a rather annoying buzzing sound.

It is worth noting all of this is likely oversight on the part of the designers.