The UAR (Underwater Assault Rifle)

‘The villain was unknowingly shadowed by our hero. The hero followed the villain to the end of the dock and saw him jumping into the water. Our hero did the same. But the villain was smarter than he thought. He pulled out a harpoon gun and aimed it at our hero. Our hero too gathered his presence of mind and pulled out the revolver he had. Just then he remembered that a revolver is completely useless underwater. “Damn it”, he said “Why doesn’t somebody invent a gun that can be effectively used underwater”. Those were his last thoughts…’

But fear not future heroes, for I have invented a gun which can be effectively used underwater. It uses the water around it rather than you having to carry heavy harpoons. Although it has a few disadvantages, I’ll think of some ways to improve this idea further.

I decided to call it UAR (the Underwater Assault Rifle).

Now, let’s see how it works.

Principle:
If a liquid is compressed beyond a certain point, it gets converted into a solid. Of course, once the pressure is removed, it turns back into a liquid.
Let me illustrate this using an experiment. Check out the figure.

Experiment:
Take a known quantity of water in a container. The container walls should be able to sustain high amounts of pressure. Now put a pressure plate on top of the water. Make sure that there is no air gap between the two. Now with the help of an Impact Hammer, deliver a heavy perpendicular force on the pressure plate. Due to this heavy force, the pressure of the water increases rapidly while the volume decreases. This results in the conversion of that water into ice! Thus we get an ice block or pellet. The life of this pellet is very small. If exposed to air (removal of pressure), it’ll regain its original state (water) in a matter of a few minutes.

The UAR:
We can make use of the same principle to make the UAR. There can be a compartment that takes in water from the surrounding area. This water should pass through a filter to remove impurities. The water is then compressed using the spring (that is used to fire the pellets). Thus one will have to press the trigger twice- First to convert the water into the pellet and then to fire it.

Advantages over conventional harpoon guns:

1> The gun will be smaller.

2> There are no harpoons or bullets required, we’re using the surrounding water itself.

3> There is no trace of the pellet, once it melts into the water. So, cause of death will not be easy to determine.

4> You can adjust the size and shape of pellets. This’ll make it a long range cum short range weapon.

Disadvantages:

1> The main disadvantage is the loading time. It’s higher due to dual triggering action.

2> The rifle will be a bit noisier compared to the conventional harpoon guns.

So the above extract now becomes:

‘The villain was unknowingly shadowed by our hero. The hero followed the villain to the end of the dock and saw him jumping into the water. Our hero did the same. But the villain was smarter than he thought. He pulled out a harpoon gun and aimed it at our hero. Our hero too gathered his presence of mind and pulled out the UAR he had. Taking a careful aim, he pumped the villain with ice pellets. “Damn it”, the villain said “Why didn’t I buy the UAR, when it was on sale?”. Those were his last thoughts…’

If you feel there are other advantages and disadvantages that i’ve missed out, feel free to post them in comments section.

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