Pulse Cannons &
Plasma Weapons

Babylon 5 Heavy Plasma Cannon, firing super charged green
plasma bolts at Clark's forces in "Severed Dreams."

Probably the most common, yet most misunderstood weapon seen used in the Babylon 5 universe was the plasma based weapons affectionately known as "Plasma Cannons" and "Pulse Cannons."  These plasma based weapons were seen in use on everything from one-man fighters to large scale capital ships, and of course the Babylon 5 station which was armed with the most recent incarnations of these plasma weapons Earth Alliance had to offer following her weapons refit and upgrade in 2259 (season 2 - "Gropos").

In "Severed Dreams" we saw just how powerful this weapon was, leading some to debate whether or not the green heavy plasma weapons on the Babylon 5 station were more powerful than the Particle/Lasers.  There are even those who lay claim that, due to Ivanova making comment that the anti-starfighter guns above the docking bay of Babylon 5 supposedly has an output of 200 megawatts, that no heavy capital ship weapon seen in the Babylon 5 universe can be more powerful that this.  Time to separate the fact from the fiction.

In the images below, we can see the results of multiple impacts from the Babylon 5 station's heavy plasma cannons.  In image one we see a single green plasma bolt streak towards the Roanoke (incorrectly labeled Agrippa by the CGI team).  In image two we see the impact damage, the plasma bolt exploding and burning through the heavy armored cowl of the Omega class Destroyer.  (Please take note that the second blast mark seen on the rotating section was from a second bolt, not the first which struck the cowl.)

In images three and four seen above, we can see a close-up of the damage inflicted by the heavy plasma weapon.  Marking out the affected area and enlarging the Roanoke to scale, we can see that the affected blast area covers at least 3,436 square meters.  Using screen shots and photo reference from the TV show and the books, we've established that the armored cowl is between three and five meters thick.  For the sake of being conservative we will use the lower figure of three meters, which means that Babylon 5's heavy plasma cannons were able to disintegrate/vaporize a total volume of 10,308 cubic meters.

Due to the bright flash and the explosion, it is very difficult to determine just how much damage the plasma bold inflicted upon initial impact, but the end results are clear - the area struck was vaporized by the impact, or at the very least disintegrated.  For the sake of argument however, we will use the vapor figures.

Why vapor and not boil, or disintegrate?  Well, due to the flash impact, we can not determine the exact effect of initial impact, save that there was indeed and explosion and the area glowed white hot.  Glow subsided in about a second and the affected area was gone.  This suggests vaporization, which is what were left to use as the result of impact damage is not as foretelling as the incident with the Particle/Laser (see X-Ray Particle/Laser analysis ).  Thus we can assert the following:

1. Babylon 5's heavy plasma cannon brought 10,308 cubic meters to vapor in under one second.
2. Assuming the armor along the hull of the Omega was comprised of iron, with a density of 7,870 kg/m³, a total mass of 81,123,960 kg was brought to vapor.
3. It requires some 7,845,085.6 J/kg to bring iron to it's vapor point.  Why?

As we know that the Omega's armor is NOT comprised of iron, and the general consensus is that the Earthforce armor is at least 20X stronger than our base matterial, the heavy plasma cannon  must have an average output of at least 1.27*10¹⁶ joules (12,728 Terajoules - 12,728,488,208,219,520 joules), or equal to a 3 megaton bomb.

Also, this is a standard discharge, not a maximum burst.  Assuming that a standard discharge is 30% of critical power, the maximum output of the Earthforce heavy plasma cannon would be no less than 4.24*10¹⁶ joule (42,428 Terajoules - 42,428,294,027,398,400 joules), or equal to a 10 megaton bomb.

Please Note:  This means that the heavy plasma weapons on Earthforce vessels are capable of generating a weapons discharge, even at the LOWEST figures, far in excess of the stated fusion bomb used to destroy the Black Star in the movie "In the Beginning."