This article deals with pseudo-Physics of the sci-fi mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam.

The Beginnings of the Minovsky Physics Society

In the year 0045 of Universal Century, the Minovsky Physics Society was formed at the space colony Side 3. Their research was devoted to the development of a nuclear fusion reactor. By the year UC 0047, development of the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor began.

Named after its inventor, Dr. Y.T. Minovsky, this reactor was "radical" due to the fact that it was the first "clean" fusion reactor, emitting zero neutron radiation. The nuclear equation was:

2He3 + 1H2 -> 2He4 + p (energy released: 18.35 MeV)

The reactant used a rare isotope of helium known as helium-3 (Ie- 2 protons and 1 neutron in the nucleus). Helium-3 is used to fuse with a deuterium atom (heavy hydrogen) to form the stable Helium-4 and a single proton. Since the proton is positively charged, it can easily be trapped within a magnetic field. The main practical problem with this reaction is that Helium-3 is extremely rare... there are little deposits on Earth and the Gundam world's fusion reactors rely on the constant supply of helium imported from the outer solar system planet Jupiter, thus marking the beginning of the Jupiter Energy Fleet. The JEF would travel from Earth to Jupiter, which has a high level of helium-3, and then come back to Earth with the gas. It should be noted that in real physics, helium-3-deuterium fusion is not aneutronic due to inevitable deuterium-deuterium reactions. Also, significant quantities of helium-3 were recently discovered on the moon, although there is certainly much more on Jupiter.

The Minovsky Particle

In UC 0065 the Minovsky Physics Society, while working on the reactor, encounter a strange electromagnetic wave effect within the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor that could not be explained by conventional physics. Within the next few years, they identify the cause: a new elementary particle generated by the helium-3 reaction, which was named the Minovsky particle or "M" particle. The Minovsky particle has near-zero rest mass - though, like any particle, its mass increases to reflect its potential or kinetic energy - and can carry either a positive or negative electrical charge. When scattered in open space or in the air, the repulsive forces between charged Minovsky particles cause them to spontaneously align into a regular lattice structure called an I-field.

However, the main use of the "M" particle came into combat and communication. When the Minovsky particle is spread in large amount in the open air or in open space, the particle disrupt low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves and radio waves. Not only that but the "M" particle also interferes with the operations of electronic circuitry. Because of the way Minovsky particles react with those particle types of radiations, radar systems and long-range wireless communication systems became useless. This became known as the "Minovsky Effect".

The only countmeaure of the "M" particle was to install bulky and expensive shielding on all electronic equipment, but only to counteract the effect it had on electronic circuitry. While this could be done for space ships and naval ships, this ruled out the use of precision guided weapons, such as guided missiles. Due to this, the military use of Minovsky particles ushers in a new era of close-range combat. This is the primary reason for the birth of the Zeon close-combat weapon: the mobile suit.

I-Field

The I-field creates a interference effect, called the Minovsky jamming effect, that blocks low-frequency electromagnetic waves such as radio and microwave transmissions - even infrared radiation is affected, though not blocked entirely. However, The I-field itself is invisible, and can be detected only by its effects.

With the rise to power of Degwin Sodo Zabi and the creation of the Principality of Zeon, the Zeon military immediately seized on the military applications of this discovery.

In UC 0070, Zeon military researchers confirmed that, by scattering large quantities of Minovsky particles, they could temporarily nullify radar and radio communications and reduce combat to visual range. Minovsky particle scattering quickly became a standard feature among almost all ships of the Universal Century.

Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor

In UC 0071, Zeon researchers created the Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactor. Instead of the conventional magnetic field, this improved version of the Minovsky-Ionesco reactor used an I-field to confine and compress the reactor fuel, triggering a fusion reaction. The Minovsky particles produced as a byproduct of the helium-3 fusion reaction are thus recycled to keep that reaction going. The Minovsky particles that form the I-field lattice also help catalyze the fusion reaction, in a process similar to the muon-catalyzed fusion investigated by real-world scientists during the 1950s. This super-efficient design is only a fifth as large as an equivalently powerful Minovsky-Ionesco reactor, for this reason it was adopted for use on mobile suits as the standard power plant.

The Mega Particle

Due to the repulsive forces between positive and negative Minovsky particles, large amounts of energy are required to compress an I-field lattice. If enough energy is applied, and the I-field is sufficiently compressed, the Minovsky particles ultimately fuse into massive, electrically neutral mega particles. The energy used to create the mega particles is expressed as both mass and velocity. No longer subject to the electrical forces that maintain the I-field lattice, the particles burst out of the I-field. This stream of heavy, fast-moving particles, unlike a conventional charged-particle beam, cannot be deflected with magnetic fields. In UC 0070, Zeon researchers exploit this phenomenon to create the fearsome mega particle cannon.

The new weapons derived from Minovsky physics are referred to by the generic term "beam weapons." There are actually two distinct varieties of beam weapon - one that uses regular Minovsky particles, and another that employs the mega particles formed by fusing positive and negative Minovsky particles.

The Mega Particle Cannon

The ubiquitous mega particle cannon - variously referred to as the beam cannon, mega beam gun, or mega beam cannon - is the standard armament of the Gundam world's warships and mobile armors. This weapon fires a focused beam of massive, high-velocity mega particles, which cannot be deflected by magnetic fields and tears through any conventional armor material.

To create the mega particles, a cannon-toting vehicle must first gather Minovsky particles from the vehicle's fusion reactor. The Minovsky particles are collected in a device called an energy condenser, where they are compressed in a high-density I-field until they fuse into mega particles. The performance of the mega particle cannon is thus limited by the reactor's ability to produce Minovsky particles.

Though it quickly becomes the standard armament of space warships, the mega particle cannon's high energy requirements and the sheer bulk of the energy condenser at first preclude its use in mobile suits. The Principality of Zeon's MS-05 Zaku I and MS-06 Zaku II are thus armed with conventional projectile and missile weapons, rather than beam weapons.

The Beam Rifle

In order to work around the mega particle cannon's energy demands, the Earth Federal Forces develop the E-cap (a contraction of "energy capacitor"). This device stores Minovsky particles in a high-energy compressed state, so that only a small amount of additional energy is required to trigger their fusion into mega particles. The E-cap is charged by energy condensers at the mobile suit's home base or carrier ship, and then functions like a battery until its supply of particles is exhausted, at which point the weapon becomes useless. During the One Year War the Federal Forces perfect the E-cap and use it to create a miniaturized mega particle cannon called a beam rifle, with which their first prototype mobile suits are equipped. The limited capacity of the E-cap proves to be a significant shortcoming. The RX-78 Gundam, for example, can only fire about 15 shots from its beam rifle before exhausting the E-cap's supply. Shortly after the end of the war, the beam rifle is further refined to use a removable E-cap module called an E-pack. A mobile suit equipped with spare E-packs can thus swap them in during a battle to replenish its beam rifle's particle supply.

Other I-Field Applications

Since it's made up of charged particles, the I-field is unable to permeate through metal, water, the Earth's surface, or other electrically conductive materials. Thus, at low altitudes it's possible to generate an I-field cushion between the underside of a vessel and the ground, yielding a gravity-countering buoyancy. This principle is used in the creation of the Minovsky Craft System, which could allow a spaceship to fly on Earth. While the Principality of Zeon was slow to make use of this principle, the Earth Federation was quick to adopt the system on its Pegasus-Class Assault Carriers. This allowed the Pegasus-Class to enter and exit earth's atmosphere and to fly while on the earth.

Another application of the I-field is the I-field Barrier. This generates a dense I-field in the space surrounding the barrier generator, which can deflect the beam weapons derived from Minovsky physics. However, this barrier has no effect against lasers or against physical attacks such as missiles, and within the barrier's radius beam weapons function with their usual lethality. Most I-field aplications of this type were used on Mobile Amours developed by both the Zeon and the Federation.

The Beam Saber

Unlike the beam weapons, the beam saber doesn't use mega particles. Instead, it emits high-energy Minovsky particles to form a blade-shaped I-field, and then fills this I-field shell with superheated plasma to produce a lethally effective cutting blade. The Minovsky particles are stored by E-cap in the beam saber's hilt, which is recharged by the mobile suit's reactor when the saber is returned to its socket. Thus, once activated, beam sabers don't rely on the mobile suit's reactor and can be thrown or discarded as decoys (as demonstrated in Gundam 0083). As the beam saber's I-field enclosure repels plasma, it not only keeps the blade's contents in but also keeps other blades' contents out, allowing one beam saber to block another. And, since the I-field can be formed into a variety of simple shapes, it's pretty trivial to create exotic variants like the beam tomahawk, beam sword, beam sword/axe, beam mace, etc.

The Beam Shield

The first defensive application of beam saber technology is the beam barrier projected by the RX-93 Nu Gundam's fin funnels. This barrier creates a geometric shell around the mobile suit, with a fin funnel at each vertex and planes of energy akin to beam saber blades forming the surfaces of the shell. Unlike the classic I-field barrier, this beam barrier deflects physical attacks and missiles as well as beam weapons. It can, however, be collapsed by a sufficiently powerful attack. By about UC 0120, the decreased size and increased power output of modern mobile suits made it possible to use a simplified version of this barrier on all mobile suits. This beam shield is composed of a simple plane of energy, radiating from a central generator unit, which can be used like a physical shield to deflect enemy attacks. Since the edges of the beam shield are as deadly as a beam saber blade, the mobile suit's computer automatically deactivates sections of the shield that would otherwise lop off the mobile suit's own limbs. Though it's limited to a single direction - and, like its beam barrier ancestor, can be collapsed by a powerful attack - the beam shield's lower energy requirements and effectiveness against every type of weapon make it a perfectly satisfactory alternative to the I-field barrier. By about UC 0150, even some warships are equipped with beam shields, notably the Joan D'arc from Victory Gundam.

See also

• Jupitris class (Gundam)