History Main / PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo

* Some [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] Marvel titles occasionally featured a "meson disintegrator". Considering their nanosecond half-lives, mesons actually do a pretty good job of disintegrating all on their own.

** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Because the series takes place a century before earlier ones, they're called "photonic" torpedoes.

This sometimes results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics hilariously unrealistic]] weapon names for people with a knowledge of the properties of said particles. A "meson cannon", for example, would be a terribly pointless weapon[[note]]Mesons are highly unstable particles that fall apart a few nanoseconds after being created. In theory you could generate high-velocity mesons which decay around your target's location, bombardin them with radiation, but A. radioactive decay isn't that precise, and B. that would be a ridiculously inefficient method of irradiating
a target.[[/note]] and a "[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 gluon gun]]" wouldn't be much use, either[[note]]Gluons are semi-hypothetical particles that hold quarks together to form larger particles[[/note]]. This, however, can be averted by creating your own fictional particles [[MinovskyPhysics with fictional properties]], or by simply doing a bit of research so that the weapon's properties ''do'' match the particle it's named after. A "[[CallARabbitASmeerp Photon Beam Cannon]]", for example, could realistically denote a laser or any electromagnetic radiation-based EnergyWeapon, a regular Photon Cannon could just be a flashlight, and "Positron Warhead" could refer to an explosive that uses {{antimatter}} annihilation as its energy source.

** Most Tau weaponry is plasma-based, but several weapons use gatling ion cannons.
** Imperial forces have limited access to plasma weapons, which they barely know how to maintain in the first place. They also have "Melta" weapons, which fluff describes as working the way a "real" plasma-shooting weapon would without the quasi-magical technology.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' has "pulsar cannons." Pulsars are a type of neutron star, which would make the name nonsense if taken literally, but idiomatically it could describe a weapon ''like'' a pulsar (in the sense that it shoots electromagnetic radiation). The reimagined version stuck with good old atom bombs and slug-thrower guns.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'': Numerous weapons. Neutron turrets are superior to proton turrets, which are superior to laser turrets. This is mostly ditched in ''Nova'', which just calls most of its guns "blasters" (except for the [[MagneticWeapons railguns]] and [[MoreDakka chainguns]]). It does have an "ion cannon", but explains that it really does shoot ions -- charged helium atoms, to be precise. However, the Auroran "Fusion Pulse Cannon" stands out as a Dubious Science Alert, as does the Polaron weaponry (though in the later case it is downplayed by multiple weapons having the ''same'' questionable take on polarons and using it in different yet internally consistent ways).

This sometimes results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics hilariously unrealistic]] weapon names for people with a knowledge of the properties of said particles. A "meson cannon", for example, would be a terribly pointless weapon[[note]]Mesons are highly unstable particles that fall apart a few nanoseconds after being created[[/note]] and a "[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 gluon gun]]" wouldn't be much use, either[[note]]Gluons are semi-hypothetical particles that hold quarks together to form larger particles[[/note]]. This, however, can be averted by creating your own fictional particles [[MinovskyPhysics with fictional properties]], or by simply doing a bit of research so that the weapon's properties ''do'' match the particle it's named after. A "[[CallARabbitASmeerp Photon Beam Cannon]]", for example, could realistically denote a laser or any electromagnetic radiation-based EnergyWeapon, a regular Photon Cannon could just be a flashlight, and "Positron Warhead" could refer to an explosive that uses {{antimatter}} annihilation as its energy source.

* The original ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' gave us "pulsar cannons." Pulsars are a type of neutron star, which would make the name nonsense if taken literally, but idiomatically it could describe a weapon ''like'' a pulsar (in the sense that it shoots electromagnetic radiation). The reimagined version stuck with good old atom bombs and slug-thrower guns.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'': Numerous weapons. Neutron turrets are superior to proton turrets, which are superior to laser turrets. This is mostly ditched in ''Nova'', which just calls most of its guns "blasters" (except for the [[MagneticWeapons railguns]] and [[MoreDakka chainguns]]). It does have an "ion cannon", but explains that it really does shoot ions -- charged helium atoms, to be precise. However, the Auroran "Fusion Pulse Cannon" stands out as a Dubious Science Alert, as does the Polaron weaponry (though in the later case it is downplayed by multiple weapons having the ''same'' questionable take on polarons and using it in different yet internally consistent ways).

%%* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations2'' is rife with these.

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[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' gave us "pulsar cannons." Pulsars are a type of neutron star, which would make the name nonsense if taken literally, but idiomatically it could describe a weapon ''like'' a pulsar (in the sense that it shoots electromagnetic radiation). The reimagined version stuck with good old atom bombs and slug-thrower guns.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

This sometimes results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics hilariously unrealistic]] weapon names for people with a knowledge of the properties of said particles. A "Meson Cannon," for example, would be a terribly pointless weapon and a "[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Gluon Gun]]" wouldn't be much use, either. This, however, can be averted by creating your own fictional particles [[MinovskyPhysics with fictional properties]], or by simply doing a bit of research so that the weapon's properties ''do'' match the particle it's named after. A "[[CallARabbitASmeerp Photon Beam Cannon]]", for example, could realistically denote a laser or any electromagnetic radiation-based EnergyWeapon, a regular Photon Cannon could just be a flashlight, and "Positron Warhead" could refer to an explosive that uses {{antimatter}} annihilation as its energy source.

* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' has J-arc's Anti-Meson Cannons, massive beam cannons which could apparently be very finely calibrated in terms of level of destruction, leaving all but the enemy untouched. When transformed by Mega Fusion into King J-der, it retained access to these and also had MASER cannons in its fingers.

* Some [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] Marvel titles occasionally featured a "meson disintegrator". (Considering their nanosecond half-lives, mesons actually do a pretty good job of disintegrating all on their own.)

* The weapons available to LaResistance in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise include [[Film/ANewHope proton torpedoes]], [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack ion cannons]], and [[Film/RogueOne ion torpedoes]].

* From the checklist Alex ran down in ''Film/TheLastStarfighter'', Gunstars are apparently armed with a particle beam and proton bolts.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FantasticVoyageII'': One character jokingly suggests that the military should start researching neutrino bombs. As he sees it, they'd have all the positive effects of weapons development -- scientific advancement, job creation, and so on -- and none of the negative effects -- such as the ability to actually kill people.
** Actually, powerful enough neutrino beam COULD kill people - by ionising radiation, released when atomic nucleus, bounced by neutrino collisions, collide with each other on high speed.
* The "proton cannons" of ''Literature/ThePentagonWar'' actually fire an electrically neutral hydrogen plasma, but "electrically neutral hydrogen plasma cannon" would take too long to say.
** But "plasma cannon" is apparently fine for other authors...
* "[[{{BFG}} Plasma Torpedoes]]" get a mention from time to time in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels. In usage, they are more akin to cannons than torpedoes.[[note]]Then again, in RealLife, Torpedoes were originally a type of stationary sea mine, named for a type of electric ray.[[/note]] They are very short ranged and ineffective against sidewalls or gravity wedges (to the point of usually being irrelevant) but immensely destructive on the very rare occasions where they can be brought into play. Thoroughly averted with standard missiles, which employ multi-megaton nuclear warheads and the most exotic they get is using the missiles to power a cluster of bomb-pumped lasers.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is the TropeMaker. Generally, torpedo types are named like this, usually with the name being an [[MeaningfulName actual explanation for their payloads.]] In later shows though, the name serves no purpose except [[RuleOfDrama adding dramatic flavor]] when the characters [[CallingYourAttacks order for the weapon to be fired.]] There's:

** In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', because it took place a century earlier, they were called "photonic" torpedoes.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' gave us "pulsar cannons." Pulsars are a type of neutron star, which would make the name nonsense if taken literally, but idiomatically it could describe a weapon ''like'' a pulsar (in the sense that it shoots electromagnetic radiation). The reimagined version stuck with good old atom bombs and slug-thrower guns.
* Tom Servo of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' once had a "neutron machine pistol" during a sketch. [[ICallItVera He called it Lucille]].
* Gamma guns from ''Series/{{Quark}}''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* The ''[[TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} Star Munchkin]]'' roleplaying-game book parodies the concept, explaining that the smaller the thing the torpedo is named after is, the bigger the explosion the torpedo makes.
* ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'' has a example in the form of the Particle Projection Cannon (which, incidentally, is described as firing a stream of ions or protons). It's more commonly referred to by the initialism PPC.

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Numerous weapons in ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity''. Neutron turrets are superior to proton turrets, which are superior to laser turrets.
** Mostly ditched in ''Nova'', which just calls most of its guns "blasters" (except for the [[MagneticWeapons railguns]] and [[MoreDakka chainguns]]). It does have an "ion cannon", but explains that it really does shoot ions -- charged helium atoms, to be precise. However, the Auroran "Fusion Pulse Cannon" stands out as a Dubious Science Alert, as does the Polaron weaponry (though in the later case it is downplayed by multiple weapons having the ''same'' questionable take on polarons and using it in different yet internally consistent ways).
* The [[{{Magitek}} [=MagiMechTech=]]] [[HumongousMecha MechaMechs]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' use [[TropeNamer photoprotoneutron torpedoes]].
* In ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'', the Aeon Illuminate has strategic bombers which drop 'quark bombs'.
* ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' has 'Neutron Assault Rifles', '[[MoreDakka Ion Disruptors]]' and '[[{{BFG}} Nucleon Shock Cannons]]'.
** Given their nature as MechanicalLifeforms, ion weaponry is a viable threat to Cybertronians. A 'nucleon' is a particle that makes up the nucleus of an atom, or in other words, proton and neutrons. Somehow, in the Transformers setting, this also denotes a powerful but unstable fuel source in the Transformers universe, and apparently it is used to power the explosive 'shock cannons' (which are really just large missile launchers). It's possible it may have something to do with nuclear power, but none of the fiction so far has gone into specifics aside from labeling it both powerful and unpredictable. Perhaps the strangest thing about Nucleon is that it is rather consistently depicted as a ''liquid'', like Energon.
* From the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series:
** Neutron guns, Ion cannons, Particle guns, and Tachyon guns. The torpedoes in this setting are simply called "torpedoes", but they are designed to be used against targets protected by "Phase Shielding".
** ''Privateer'' gives us Proton Torpedoes, which are really just very powerful dumbfire missiles that are otherwise unrelated to the regular torpedoes of the rest of the series.
* ''{{VideoGame/Zigfrak}}'':
** The engine cell upgrades go from high level fusion cells, to protium cells, then deuterium cells, and finally the legendary tier fuel of "Liquid Swarzenegger".
** In the BackStory for "Hawk", his family was wiped out in a "proton bombing".

* The gigantic {{Wave Motion Gun}}s of ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' are typically called "beams", both in-game and out, but their technical name is "Photon Beam Cannon". There's also the Meson Bomb, a superpowerful explosive that completely vaporizes anything within three kilometers. [[VideoGame/{{Derelict}} One fan-made campaign]] threw it all into a blender and hodge-podged together a beam cannon using a meson bomb's energy reaction as a power source.
* The ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series brings us ComicBook/IronMan's [[MemeticMutation PROTON CANNON]].
* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations 2'' is rife with these.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' has the GDI's [[KillSat Ion Cannon]] in the ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries Tiberium]]'' games and the USA's very similar Particle Cannon in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'', and the Allies have the Proton Collider in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3''.
* ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' and its related games featured the weapon known as the PPC, which stands for "particle projector cannon," derived from the tabletop source material. It is often compared to man-made lightning, but the fiction suggests the weapon fires beams of charged particles. A large percentage of the time, it is rendered as a blue stream of energy with some lead time. The version in the ''Mechwarrior 2'' trilogy fires what the guides term "plasma balls."
** The latter may ironically stem from the "energy shells" mentioned in the description of the Manticore tank's "Parti-Kill [=PPC=]" in the [[TabletopGame/BattleTech board game]]'s own fiction...which is explicitly described as working ''differently'' from most standard weapons of that type.
* Amusingly enough for the page description, game developers Creator/SiliconKnights created a top down turn-based-strategy/action hybrid game called ''Cyber Empires'' which featured the Neutrino Cannon as its most powerful energy weapon.
* ''{{VideoGame/Starsiege}}'' and its predecessors, the ''Earthsiege'' series, featured the PBW, for particle beam weapon, which is described as an 'electromagnetic shotgun.' Bearing in mind that the weapon fires a single discrete beam, this raises some questions about how exactly the weapon operates.
** Another example from the series is the electron flux whip, or ELF, which is called the 'lightning bolt on a leash.' It is often rendered as a continuous arc of blue or yellow electricity with a short range, or occasionally as a slow, single arc that twists awkwardly through the air to damage the target's shields or armor.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has the Reapers' {{Wave Motion Gun}}s, which are not beams but are actually "magnetohydrodynamic cannons"... Subverted, as this is actually a perfectly accurate descriptor of the weapon: it fires a stream of molten metal at relativistic speeds. Other starship weapon names are similarly straightforward: mass accelerators,[[note]]Large coilguns/railguns that accelerate slugs to relativistic speeds.[[/note]] fusion torpedoes,[[note]]Small ship-launched nuclear missiles.[[/note]] point-defense lasers, antimatter warheads,[[note]]Notable because they easily could have called them something fancier like "photon torpedoes", "neutrino missiles", or "positron warheads" and still have been technically correct.[[/note]] disruptor torpedoes,[[note]]They warp space-time in a localized area, causing the target to rip itself apart, fitting the literal definition of "disruption."[[/note]], particle beams, and so on.
* Several weapons in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series fit this. Ion Disruptor, Ion Pulse Generator, Ion Cannon, Ion Shard Railgun, and Photon Pulse Cannon. Oh, and the Kha'ak use kyon emitters, which fire a fictitious particle. The names are normally fairly justified by FlavorText.
* Several of the energy weapons mounted on Protoss vehicles in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' qualify. Corsairs use a Neutron Flare, Scouts mount dual photon blasters and anti-matter missiles, Arbiters and Dragoons carry phase disruptor cannons, and their defense building is a Photon Cannon.

* An obscure Russian 4X game called ''VideoGame/RememberTomorrow'' might as well be the poster boy for this trope. In a slightly misguided effort to create variety in types of available weapons, engines, and power systems, the designers seem to have found a list of particle names and matter states, and stapled entries from it in front of various "cannons", "engines" and "generators". Highlights include "ion generators", "proton missiles", and cannons in "proton", "gluon", "meson", "antimeson", "graviton", "boson" and "baryon" varieties, culminating in the ultimate beam-type weapon, the "neutrino accelerator".

* The ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' games have the Ion Cannon, which is the heaviest weapon available save for the [[WaveMotionGun Progenitor Phased Cannon Array]]. It is exclusively a starship weapon (and a ludicrously big one at that) - except for the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Bentusi]], who managed to put two of them on ''fighters''.
** Given Homeworld's hard sci-fi nature the Ion Beam Cannon might be a subversion of the trope, possibly being a weapon that accelerates charged particles to relativistic speeds.
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceEmpires'', torpedoes go from AntiMatter to Quantum. The beam weapons use protons and mesons.
* In ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'', hybrid blasters of all sizes come in three variants: electron, ion, and neutron, all of which use the same types of metallic charges (which also double as railgun rounds).
** Explained as the charges containing a core of <bullet type> atoms in a suspended plasma state, which the blasters extract and form into a bolt which is then fired, while railguns simply fire the entire bullet.
* The two most powerful energy weapons in ''{{VideoGame/Wasteland}}'' are the ion beamer and meson cannon. The best melee weapon is called a "proton ax", whatever that means.
* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': Photon/Plasma grenades for Tau Shas'ui/Eldar Guardians respectively.
* Several ships in ''VideoGame/StarTrekKlingonAcademy'' are armed with muon cannons (known in-game as "shieldbreakers").
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' features such weapon names as Proton Torpedoes, Particle Lances, Tachyon Lances, and Quantum Missiles.
* Some of the alien weapons you pick up in ''VideoGame/MoonChronicles'' have names like Muon Pistol, Lepton Spread or Fermion Sniper, implying they fire sub-atomic particles.
* The Fusion Rifle and Proton Cannon weapons of ''VideoGame/FeralFury''. The Fusion Rifle is actually just a reskin of the Assault Rifle, with red TronLines and projectiles. The Proton Cannon spews a blast of green energy that obliterates most enemies in one shot.
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'', the bounty hunter Sylux uses a weapon that fires neutrinos. In RealLife these particles are so ubiquitous that about 100 trillion of them pass through your body harmlessly every second.
* ''VideoGame/StarsInShadow'' is quite fond of this. While missiles tend to use nuclear warheads, beam weaponry fits. After lasers, the next step is ion cannons, then those get upgraded to "Primary" beams, which fire matter/antimatter reaction waste. The final step is the "Hellbore" cannon, which fires [[PlasmaCannon superhot plasma]].
* ''Videogame/{{Gradius}}'' gives us Photon Torpedoes which pass through multiple one-hit enemies at once.
* ''Videogame/AceCombatXSkiesOfDeception'' uses "Meson Cannons" as a defensive weapon for Aurelian capital Griswall. However, their usage and properties are [[ShownTheirWork largely justified]]. The cannons are located on top of Atmos Ring - a large particle accelerator and a muon-catalyzed fusion powerplant - the primary method of generating muons in real life is, in fact, through meson decay. Similarly, the cannons don't actually utilize mesons as a projectile, but rather muons that they decay into. The range of the weapon is limited to several kilometers, just like one would expect a weapon with unstable particles as projectiles to behave. And finally, the cost of production and development was high enough to be stopped midway.
* ''VideoGame/EventHorizon'' has plenty of these, including the Proton Torpedo, Neutron Blaster, Ion Cannon, Quantum Torpedo, Singularity Cannon, Tachyon Beam and Heavy Anti-Matter Torpedo. At least ItMakesSenseInContext considering how the aforementioned weapons work.
* ''VideoGame/TheEnchantedCave'' gives ''fractal cabbage'' as a healing item. [[AWizardDidIt Because magic.]] No, seriously.

* In a parody of this, rifle-sized "positron shooters" are apparently the standard issue weapon for [[TheFederation DOOP]] soldiers in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. They're powered by hand cranks and play Pop Goes The Weasel as they're wound up.
* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madballs}}: Escape from Orb'', where our heroes launch a "photon ''bathtub''" to slow down the bad guys.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'', Rusty is powered by nucleoprotons, which he can also fire at his enemies as an energy weapon.

** In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', because it took place a century earlier, they were called "photonic" torpedoes. (Wiki/MemoryAlpha insists that photon torpedoes and photonic torpedoes are different weapons.)

** Given Homeworld's [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardness]] the Ion Beam Cannon might be a subversion of the trope, possibly being a weapon that accelerates charged particles to relativistic speeds.

This is a SubTrope of SciFiNameBuzzwords. Less realistic examples often fall into {{Technobabble}}.