The proton pack is a fictional piece of nuclear accelerative machinery created by the Ghostbusters and serves as their primary weapon in the 1984 film of the same name for the purpose of "busting" ghosts.

In the realm of the movie, the proton pack functions by separating positively charged protons and utilizing them to attack negatively charged ectoplasmic entities. [1] In practical terms, the guns fire a stream of energy that allows a wielder to snare a ghost and hold it in place so it can be positioned above a trap for capture.

However, the packs are very difficult to control for an inexperienced wielder with the firing process apparently creating recoil with the firing stick. In addition, the streams are very destructive to physical objects and can cause considerable property damage. Crossing the streams was also initially discourage as it was believed that cause total protonic reversal which cause the wielder to explode. However, in a desperate effort to stop Gozer the Gozerian, the Ghostbusters performed a simultaneous quadrupal crossing which only caused an external explosion that left them only slightly stunned.

In the real world, proton packs were created by the prop department of Columbia Pictures. They are made of molded fiberglass shells on aluminum backplates (or "motherboards") bolted to military surplus A.L.I.C.E. frames. The proton packs have a lightbar with 13 blue scrolling lights in a box on the right-hand side and 4 rotating red lights in the circular "cyclotron" portion of the bottom of the proton pack. The surfaces of the proton packs are adorned with various sizes and colors of tubing, pneumatic fittings and valves, PVC pipe sections, metal rods, antique resistors, etc.

Many movie prop replica communities have sprung up regarding proton pack research and contain many interesting methods and plans for constructing one's own replica proton pack. Among of the most proficient of these are A.S.A.P. (A Site About Props)[2] and the Ghostbusters Prop Archive [3]

In the words of Egon Spengler : "The proton pack is not a toy."

A weapon strongly resembling the proton pack appears in the computer game Half-Life, where it is called the Gluon gun, but is referenced internally as weapon_egon.

External links

• The Science of Ghostbusters
• A.S.A.P. Proton Packs
• The Ghostbusters Prop Archive