[UT] Plasma Torch vs. big metal door on a spaceship?

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Err, we have rules for 'cut out a 10ft² section' rules, and they have been cited, but they're mostly calibrated to wood and stone. I'm looking to getting some of those clarified in contexts of metal and/or different-sized holes. Even HT drills are described in such a context, but some things aren't quite clear in it.

For context on metals, I'd suggest ignoring DR entirely or effectively reducing it to no more than 1. This is based on layman's articles on real-life lasers and assuming that they would apply to both laser and plasma torches.

As I understand it, lasers initially heat up the surface of a material and as the surface heats, that heat penetrates more deeply as well as spreading laterally. Continuous beam lasers encountered a problem in that the surface continued absorbing heat even after it's transformation into the gaseous state because the laser beam effectively pressurized the gas preventing its escape and thereby degraded the efficiency of the laser. Pulse lasers were developed as a solution to the problem by briefly interrupting the beam to allow the heated surface gas an opportunity to "boil off" before resuming.

Assuming that laser and plasma torches have a pulsing interruption feature that allows the surface gas to boil off, it seems reasonable to say that the laser/plasma torch doesn't engage more than 1 mm of depth at any given instant, so it never has to deal with more than DR 1 due to thickness, so most of its burning damage is expended directly in attacking the HP of the wall.