question on partial shields

[freeman]

I came across these interesting tidbits in an article on Dune warfare featured on this site: http://dune2k.com/Community/Articles/Warfare

A shield can be modified to provide only partial protection to its wearer...this shows that shield configurations are flexible and can be shaped to a particular task.

Conversely, fast moving missile weapons cannot be fired from within a shield. This causes a shield inversion and the resultant impact radiation cooks the shield wearer very quickly.

A second limitation on shield use is the exhausting effects on the wearer when deprived of sufficient oxygen for any significant length of time.

If all this were true, couldn't shields be configured to provide close to full protection while allowing the wearer to breath with more ease or to fire guns? (for example a shield that has a few small wholes in it for air and leaves one of the wearer's hands exposed) 

[Dante]

Depends how the shield is projected. If it covers a solid surface from the emitter then there's no way to make holes. However, I imagine that with technology so advanced, it wouldn't be too much of a problem to make thin areas in a shield.

The oxygen question is largely due to the slowing effect of the shield, molecules can't pass it very easily. Thin areas would help that, but putting one right in front of your face strikes me as a bad idea.

[freeman]

on a related note i'm assuming that the shield does not envelope the blade held in the wearer's hand since if it did the shield around the blade would be repulsed by the opponent's shield

so I don't see why a shield would cover the gun

[Dante]

I don't recall anything about when two shields come into contact with each other. Given that duelists do not explode regularly however, one assumes that the consequences are not particularly dire. Probably a slow-moving object, even a shielded one, is able to pass through a shield.

[MrFlibble]

on a related note i'm assuming that the shield does not envelope the blade held in the wearer's hand since if it did the shield around the blade would be repulsed by the opponent's shield

I've always thought the blade is covered by the field too, so during a fight the blade must penetrate both the wearer's and the opponent's shields.

I don't recall anything about when two shields come into contact with each other.

I believe "sparkles" and "ozone smell" are mentioned somewhere (maybe in the Paul vs. Gurney training scene), but I don't remember it very well (too lazy to check now :)).

[Dante]

I've always thought the blade is covered by the field too, so during a fight the blade must penetrate both the wearer's and the opponent's shields.

Or possibly only the latter, depending on how closely it follows the contours of the blade.

[freeman]

I can't find it at the moment, but somewhere in this article http://dune2k.com/Community/Articles/Warfare I could have sworn I read something to the effect that shields repulse each other when they come too close together

[SparrowsOfDune]

Shields were all about the slowstab. The shield would help to make the slow blade unbreakable.

the very simplest were a flat plane. most others had to be some sort of deformed bubble, sealing against the ground usually. a half-shield was folded back into itself instead of over the werer and the ground, like two domes inside each other.

The relevant articles in the Dune encyclopedia are very good, and I don't think any texts contradict the physics they present (in OH or BH/KJA).