Yeesh I just looked at some of the specs on the HERF gun (thanks, Revdisk). 20 MEGAwatts!? That's the equivalent output of 5 million cb radios (legal power) keying up at the same time!
Good god, I don't think I would want to be anywhere near something like that when it goes off.
Heh. Low powered amateurs. Look up the watts tesla coils can crank out.
HERF is handy because one can make it very very direction. EMP ish technology is not quiet as directional, but I've heard rumors of electronic warfare experiments to make EMP more ah, discriminating.
Again, mostly rumors, but the science is plausible enough. People are researching ways of making electronic weapons that interfere with certain electrical processes inside the human body. Properly, they can make a person just do the funky chicken dance or feel like their entire body is on fire. Crudely, they can fry the brain.
Pentagon calls 'em "microwave guns" or something similiar. Again, google should be able to turn up news articles on the technology.
Wouldn't something like that also fry your stereo or even the car's electronics (computer, etc..)?
If one didn't know what one was doing, yes. If one used highly directional HERF, no.
Burn out my stereo and I may burn you out of your house.
Well put. However, some practical application considerations. HERF is invisible to the naked eye. Unless you have shielded directional locators handy and turned on during the ELWAR attack, how would you know whose house to burn down?
As for stereos, you could probably build something that works on a taser principle.
Aren't most cars covered with plastic these days? If you manage to hit the frame, isn't the frame grounded? You'd need to hit the speakers or stero itself to 'taser' it. Not the easiest shot in the world, you know.