!: Stun Gun Effects Are the Same As Captain Kirk's Phaser on Stun

Whichever Star Trek series is your personal favorite, we have to agree, the stun gun effects of the Phaser made it the best weapon ever. You could stun someone and put them out of action without having to kill them. This is the principle, both moral and physical, behind the stun gun effects of the present day as well. Although a Phaser is many years away in technology, the moral issue is timeless. But have you ever wondered how they actually work? And why doesn't it electrocute someone even though they've been hit with 300,000 volts, or higher? Here is a brief explanation of the workings of a stun gun and the affects of the stun gun effects on a body.

The electro mechanic workings are really quite simple; a series of transformers boosts the voltage from as little as 9 volts to 100,000 volts and more depending on the model and how many batteries it uses. It directs the voltage to one electrode and then whoever it touches becomes the conductor to a second electrode causing all that juice to pass through their body. But according to the laws of electricity, as the voltage increases the amperage decreases and keep in mind that a 9 volt battery starts out with very low amperage. So the technical side of stun gun effects is that it dumps a boat load of electricity into someone but with very little real power behind it. This is the key to why they don't electrocute you.

The body mechanics side of stun gun effects is where the similarity to the fictitious Phaser lies. It disrupts the neuro-electric impulses from the brain to the muscles, only real stun guns, because they use electricity, do one more thing. The high voltage sends powerful false signals directly to the muscles, causing them to do a lot of work, in muscle terms, in a very short amount of time, depleting them of their blood sugar and leaving them temporarily unable to produce more energy. The person who is stunned no longer has the strength or control of their muscles to hold themselves up and they wind up on the ground, usually curled up in a ball. After some time has passed and nutrients return to the muscles, they start working again and the stunned individual is fine.

This type of self defense tool has been steadily gaining in popularity with law enforcement agencies, as well as private citizens, not only because of moral issues but also because they pretty much always do the job they were intended for. There are often good reasons for someone to need a powerful self defense device but carrying a stun gun whose effects are meant to disable temporarily rather than a gun whose effects are meant to kill permanently seems to be a choice that can protect your conscience as well as your body. This could easily qualify as the most important of the stun gun effects.