The Standard Stun Gun: How it Works

A standard stun gun works fairly simply using two 9V batteries to develop the voltage

across the two electrodes. The batteries are the source of electricity for the circuit inside

the stun gun. The circuit contains many different elements including transformers which

serve to amplify the voltage in the circuit while reducing the amperage. In addition,

oscillators create a pulse which in turn charges up the capacitors. The charged capacitors

are what deliver the shock to the person by delivering it to the electrodes. Below is a

diagram of the circuit.

The two electrodes are where the action happens. The electrodes are simply metal

conducting plates with a gap between them. In a typical stun gun there are two sets, the

test electrodes and the charge electrodes. The test electrodes are close enough that when

the trigger is held down to close the switch in the circuit, the current is able to jump

between the test electrodes and create a visible spark. The charge electrodes have a gap

too large for the current to jump. To activate the charge electrodes, a conductor must be

placed in between them. Humans are as good a conductor as any, so when the stun gun is

pressed against a person with the trigger depressed, the current tries to jump between the

charge electrodes and as a result the electricity will flow into the person.

How Stun Guns Affect the Body

Many people may think that a stun gun works because it produces electricity and

electricity is bad for you. This is not entirely true. We use electricity to do things on a

daily and even hourly basis. The way we do this is by sending electric signals from our

brain to our nerve cells which in turn release neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters

are then what communicated with the muscles in our body and tells them what to do so

that we are able to accomplish the desired task. As a result, without electricity we would

not be able to function.

The way a stun gun works is by interrupting the communication signals from the brain to

the body. A stun gun does not harm a person permanently; it only temporarily disrupts

the way our body functions. A stun gun won’t cause damage in the long run because the

electricity that it delivers into a person’s body is very high voltage but low amperage

electrical charge. In this way, the charge is not intense enough to cause any long term

damage to the person.

So when you press the stun gun against a person and deliver the shock to them, a few

things happen contributing to their following “stunned” condition. The electric shock

delivered by the stun gun will combine with the electric signals from the brain and this

will confuse your body and make it hard to move. Another effect the stun gun can have is

causing a person to do excessive amounts of work directed towards nothing in a

particularly short period of time. This will use all of the persons energy so that they will

temporarily be unable to do anything.

Types of Stun Guns

Three types of stun gun weapons are made for retail. The first is a static charge

gun which immobilizes people by using an electric current powered by static charge. The

second gadget is called a Phase Induction gun, which delivers a charge to living creatures

through an electric current achieved through phase induction. The final type of stun gun

is the T-Wave gun. This device disrupts the brain’s signals to the body by means of an

electric current completed with EMD (Electro-Muscular Disruption).

Static Charge Gun:

The power this gun uses, measured in joules per second, ranges from 9-20 electric

watts. The voltage given off by this weapon is between 80,000 and 625,000. The

amperage of this and all other stun guns is relatively low. It could be calculated using

P = I*V

According to this equation, the current falls in the range from 1.44*10^-5 to 2.5*10^-4

Amps. Notice that this amperage is very low and therefore won’t cause permanent

damage to a person. This weapon builds up static charge in a capacitor, which is then

discharged to deliver the electric shock.

Phase Induction Stun Gun:

This gun generally uses 7-15 watts of power and gives off a voltage of 100,000 to

625,000 volts. The gun would then have a range of 1.12*10^-5 to 1.5*10^-4 Amps.

Notice that this amperage is also very low and therefore won’t cause permanent damage

to a person. It utilizes a more effective method of shock where the current is released in

intervals made possible by oscillators inside the gun. This allows the gun to generate a

feeling of about 100,000 more volts than it actually uses.

T-Wave Gun:

The T-Wave gun is somewhat different than the two previous models. This gun

contains two conducting projectiles attached to wires, which are fired out of the gun, hit a

target, and release a shock. The wires are fired by compressed gas in an air cartridge,

usually nitrogen that expands when the gun is fired. The gas generates the projectile’s

speed of 135 to 175 meters per second. The voltage of the gun varies from model to

model, but can be measured by taking the advertised voltage multiplied with the distance

between each probe. This gun uses more power than the others, about 18-26 electric

watts. This greater power accompanied by a pulse of electricity allows the weapon to take

over the electric signals from the brain, not just disrupt them as the other guns do. This

means that both the brain’s signals to the body and the body’s signals to the brain are

controlled. This makes for a much more effective shock. These guns are usable and

accurate at distances ranging from 3 (minimum) to 21 (maximum) feet. A diagram of this

gun is shown below:

Additional Types of Stun Guns

The Liquid Stun Gun:

This type of gun is not as compact and portable as the ones previously described,

but it works the same way. To me this type of stun gun can be thought of as a very

dangerous super soaker, a super soaker being a type a water gun that I’m sure most are

familiar with. This gun works the same way as that of the T-wave gun described above

except that it uses water streams in place of wires to carry the current. A diagram of this

type of gun is shown below:

When one pulls the trigger, the electric current travels through the water stream and into

the attacker. The problem with these types of stun guns is that they have to be hooked up

to a tank of the highly conductive fluid. This is not exactly something you could put into

a purse or something of that sort. There are tanks that you can wear on your back, but to

me that seems like you would then be looking for people to shock instead of simply using

the gun in an unexpected attack for self defense. The liquid gun, however, does have a

few advantages. The accuracy of this gun is better than the T-wave gun and in addition, it

can be fired many times in a row. So those are two good things about this gun. Overall,

this isn’t exactly a typical self defense weapon someone might carry when going out for a

night on the town, but it gives you an idea of the alternate kinds of stun guns that are out

there.

Concerns

Though it is stated in most research that stun guns leave no permanent damage, there are

still several restrictions of the weapon’s use. There are seven states and six cities that

restrict use of a stun gun because of their power as a weapon:

STATES CITIES

Massachusetts Baltimore, MD

Wisconsin Annapolis, MD

Rhode Island Washington D.C.

New York Chicago, IL

New Jersey Philadelphia, PA

Michigan Denison, IA

Hawaii

Stun guns are not lethal when properly used, but there has been at least one death

attributed to stun gun misuse. On June 29, 2000, at Wallens Ridge State Prison, inmate

James Frazier was shocked with a stun gun after his disruptive behavior. The stun gun

was continually fired until the victim went into a coma and eventually died. This case has

prompted even more research on the controversial weapon.

Brief

History

The stun gun or taser was invented in the 1960’s by a man named John Cover. Cover was

trying to create an electric non-lethal weapon to control violent criminal behavior. He

named the resulting tool a taser, which is an acronym standing for “Thomas A. Swift’s

Electrical Rifle”. Then in 1970 Cover began to advertise his product to law enforcement

agencies who disregarded the gun as a valuable??? tool. The airline industry and

civilians however were very interested in the new gadget, and sales began to rise. As this

was happening, investigations were taking place to determine the legality of this new

weapon. It was decided in 1976 that the gun was a firearm and therefore couldn’t be sold

to civilians. Sales plummeted, and stun guns were close to extinction. Then in 1980, the

Los Angeles police department took a chance on the weapon based on their own research

and bought many to use in their law enforcement. This led several other law enforcement

agencies to use the gun, and the restrictions on sales to civilians to be lessened. Since this

time, taser usage has risen and become a popular choice around the law enforcement

community.

Stun Guns on the Market

Stun Master 100,000V Stun Master 625,000V Talon 200,000V (phase induction)

These are just a few of the many that there are out on the market. Visit http://www.high-

tech-defense-and-mini-cams.com/stunguns.html for many more options. In addition to

the traditional looking stun guns on the market, there are also ones that take on more of a

disguise for optimum self defense. Probably the most common “disguised” Stun guns

look like cell phones or flashlights. Below are pictures of these “disguised” stun guns.

Group Members:

Jason Hyland

Josh Cherner

12/8/2002

Physics 135-2

Stun Guns

References

http://www.howstuffworks.com/stun-gun3.htm

http://www.airtaser.com/technical/technical.html

http://www.airtaser.com/technical/laurreport.html

http://bigbreak.8k.com/tao/stuninfo.html

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/securityplanet/learabstungu.html

http://www.high-tech-defense-and-mini-cams.com/stunguns.html

http://www.safetyproductsunlimited.com/cell_phone_stun_gun.html

http://www.millenniumsecurityproducts.com/index.htm