This is my only idea to date for a "weapon" (sounds of applause)
Picture the scene - your unit is cut off and about to be overrun... escaping under the protection of a smoke screen is not a effective option due to a combination of circumstances, so you decide to deploy your Soap Screen. A series of large overfilled washing machines, which you had previously seeded in a defensive line, erupt into virulent life. Gallons of colourful soap suds billow out, filling every alley-way and gully. You make good your escape as your enemy is enveloped in a monstrous cloud of soap suds.
Soapy bubbles have several advantages over the traditional smoke screen
1 Inside the bubble Screen visibility is reduced to about an inch.
2 Soap Screen would leave everything nice and clean and shiny in its aftermath.
3 Enemy soldiers who foolishly ventured into the Screen would become instantly lost and flounder around until they bumped into something like a wall or fell down a hole.
4 Because cleanliness is next to Godliness many enemy soldiers would simply strip off and start washing themselves in the luxurious suds, while you completed your withdrawal.-- xenzag, Nov 10 2005 Foam Distraction https://people.crei...Jay%20Jam_03_12.jpgMake sure to turn up music and shine some lights on a disco ball, to really confuse them. [Worldgineer, Nov 10 2005] Obvious disadvantage: the bubble screen will be limited to two or three feet off the ground. (Try it and see.)
Nevertheless, I'm sure that could be useful in some situations. Flushing out enemy caves and foxholes in Afghanistan, maybe. You also don't need washing machines - putting dish detergent in an electric kettle has spectacular results, and I'm sure you could construct a very compact bubble-generating machine.
And you can rest assured - I don't think *anyone* is going to classify this as a "weapon."-- DrCurry, Nov 10 2005 How would they get the washing machines into the trenches?? Washing Machines are heavy and ungainly. They would have trouble getting around them to battle the enemy when not in use. If buried dirt would get into the mechanisms, rust etc.
Also, wouldn't it take a really long time for all those bubbles to build up? The enemy would see what was happening long before you were able to escape.-- elvinpixie, Nov 10 2005 To much bubble and not enough squeak....-- 100 percent, Nov 10 2005 [Picture the scene - your unit is cut off]
Is this about that movie that John Wayne Bobbitt made?-- normzone, Nov 10 2005 Drcurry - remind me not to have tea at your house
elvinpixie - these are military machines - compact and powerful (Maytag M1001's to be precise)
normzone - that's a eunuch
thanks for all those - made me laugh-- xenzag, Nov 11 2005 random, halfbakery