Is there currently technology that senses the distance and density of matter and requires nothing be behind the object? If this device had the capability to graphically display this information I think that would impress more than anything else. You could scan for a broken bone, find lost objects in the grass (assuming they were more dense than the grass/dirt), or find studs or electrical wiring behind drywall in buildings.
X-rays though I don't think are a viable general-purpose option. Firstly it would be ridiculously dangerous to allow people to walk around with sufficiently powerful ionising radiation sources - ask Madame Curie about the dangers of X-rays. More to the point though X-rays don't bounce of all that much except for very glancing blows (which wouldn't send the reflected ray back to you) - they mostly either pass through things or get absorbed, which means your receiver has to be on the opposite side of the th
Your whole first paragraph is pretty much a chain of incorrect and false statements in the face of x-ray backscattering equipment. This uses x-ray sources considerably weaker than used for medical x-rays, involves x-rays that actually do scatter backwards from the target, via. Compton scattering, and works quite well with stuff that are not "extreme dense materials."
They also don't have very good penetrating power and still rely on exposing people to dangerous ionizing radiation. It's not as if you can image someone's bones using the naturally-occurring X-rays in the environment, unless that person happens to be standing naked on the moon.
Check out ground penetrating radar. Also, TSA uses backscatter, which works in a similar way - it doesn't REQUIRE anything to be behind the subject, you get a clearer image if you have a plain background (where plain means uniform reflection of the frequency used). Ultrasound works some some applications, but the image is rather blurry unless you have a very expensive unit.
I don't know if either is available in an inexpensive, low resolution hobbyist version. I'd bet there are some old units, two generations behind, on ebay. Now I'm off to Google for hobbyist radar .
A tricorder which combines low-quality short- range radar, backscatter, infrared and ultrasound might be very useful - infrared would see pipes in the wall, maybe the combination of radar and ultrasound would show the studs, etc.
We're getting some good answers here. Since it has a screen like a phone, the "mode" button could change which program controlled how the input graphs were rendered, like OpenGL display lists in a game. The x-ray/backscatter method could have a red button and audibly beep when it's on to warn people. Maybe a mass spectrometer to sniff the air in front of it (and compare the results to a database of known sample patterns) would make it truly boss. If someone farted, the tricorder would have the answer.
Low-cost terahertz radar imaging [wikipedia.org] is going to be very useful in handheld devices. You really can see a short distance into many materials. Great for seeing pipes and electrical wiring in walls.
The day will come when that's a standard tool one buys at Home Depot.
Until that's working, a cooled IR imager would be useful. Those are great for finding heat leaks in houses, but currently cost too much.
Yes but will it also be able to analyze composition? I don't want a temperature probe; I already have that. I want to scan my soil and discover the nitrogen content, phosphor content, etc.
For $10, you can buy a radar-equipped stud-finder and use it to locate the frame behind your sheetrock.
Laser rangefinders can also locate distance to laser-reflective sources and there are many other similar technologies, such as those used in autofocus cameras.
I don't know of any portable technology that could be used to find a broken bone without exposing people to ionizing radiation, but I'm sure we'll figure it out one day.
Introducing, the 1010, a one-bit processor.
0 NOP No Operation
1 JMP Jump (address specified by next 2 bits)
The killer feature (Score:3)
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Is there currently technology that senses the distance and density of matter and requires nothing be behind the object?
No.
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X-rays though I don't think are a viable general-purpose option. Firstly it would be ridiculously dangerous to allow people to walk around with sufficiently powerful ionising radiation sources - ask Madame Curie about the dangers of X-rays. More to the point though X-rays don't bounce of all that much except for very glancing blows (which wouldn't send the reflected ray back to you) - they mostly either pass through things or get absorbed, which means your receiver has to be on the opposite side of the th
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They also don't have very good penetrating power and still rely on exposing people to dangerous ionizing radiation. It's not as if you can image someone's bones using the naturally-occurring X-rays in the environment, unless that person happens to be standing naked on the moon.
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The Forward Mass Sensor would disagree with you.
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10... [aiaa.org]
Only been around for 49 years though.
http://www.regnirps.com/Gravio... [regnirps.com]
radar, backscatter , sometimes ultrasound (Score:4)
Check out ground penetrating radar. Also, TSA uses backscatter, which works in a similar way - it doesn't REQUIRE anything to be behind the subject, you get a clearer image if you have a plain background (where plain means uniform reflection of the frequency used). Ultrasound works some some applications, but the image is rather blurry unless you have a very expensive unit.
I don't know if either is available in an inexpensive, low resolution hobbyist version. I'd bet there are some old units, two generations behind, on ebay. Now I'm off to Google for hobbyist radar .
A tricorder which combines low-quality short- range radar, backscatter, infrared and ultrasound might be very useful - infrared would see pipes in the wall, maybe the combination of radar and ultrasound would show the studs, etc.
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Terahertz radar (Score:4, Interesting)
Low-cost terahertz radar imaging [wikipedia.org] is going to be very useful in handheld devices. You really can see a short distance into many materials. Great for seeing pipes and electrical wiring in walls. The day will come when that's a standard tool one buys at Home Depot.
Until that's working, a cooled IR imager would be useful. Those are great for finding heat leaks in houses, but currently cost too much.
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Soon to be nicknamed the 'Nudie-cam.'
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it takes alot of tuning to see someone's genitals with Thz cameras. your more likely to be seeing their musculature and fat deposits.
in the very least, you could definitely tell who has real boobs or very well made implants.
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Soon to be nicknamed the 'Nudie-cam.'
Obligatory (SFW) pic [modernsurvivalblog.com] worth 1K words. [Google image search result for "Terahertz imaging"].
Note to self: THz-camo underwear market will be big. Get in early.
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YES; Radar (Score:2)
For $10, you can buy a radar-equipped stud-finder and use it to locate the frame behind your sheetrock.
Laser rangefinders can also locate distance to laser-reflective sources and there are many other similar technologies, such as those used in autofocus cameras.
I don't know of any portable technology that could be used to find a broken bone without exposing people to ionizing radiation, but I'm sure we'll figure it out one day.