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Dragonball Z Ki
Done by Supercryptid, minor edits by site staff
The properties of ki in Dragon Ball Z and the
properties of ki in real life seem to be quite different. Real ki seems to be
little more than a pulse of pressure felt between your hands. DBZ ki, on the
other hand, is far more useful and directly observable. Here's an analysis of
a few ki-based techniques in order to determine what DBZ ki is really like.
Standard Ki Blast (Kikou Ha) - This is your standard blast of ki that
most anyone can use. It is fired from the user's hands and explodes upon
reaching it's target. Originally, I thought the kikou ha was basically like a
plasma blast similar to what Mega Man can fire from his blaster. This is not
the case, however. Plasma is a very hot gas; so hot that it can burn holes
through steel. At one point when Gohan fought Dabura, he was knocked
underwater. We clearly see that Gohan forms two ki balls whilst underwater and
fires them upward.
If ki balls were hot like plasma, then the water around the balls would have
been boiling violently. However, the water does not react at all. This means
that ki balls are fairly cool to the touch. This explains how a Z-fighter can
form a ball of ki in his/her hands without burning him/herself. Wait, if this
is true, then why was Goku blowing on his hands to cool them after grappling
with one of Frieza's ki balls? It's a matter of pressure. The ki ball from
Frieza had alot of force behind it, and Goku was trying to directly oppose
that force by pushing the ki ball in the opposite direction. This tension
would cause huge amounts of pressure to form between the ki ball and Goku's
hands, thus resulting in heat. Pressure can also cause pain that resembles a
burning sensation as well, so this may help to explain that.
When ki balls explode however, there is a large amount of heat generated.
After a ki ball explodes, a large amount of light is produced and a smoking
crater results. The best way that I can describe a ki ball is that it is
basically a package of potential energy that is contained within a sphere.
This is very similar to a grenade or bomb, except that it is in the form of
pure energy. The glow that is produced by the ki ball could be due to the
internal energy that it contains. Here are my conclusions on the kikou ha:
-It is not hot, unless it rubs up against another object and causes friction
or pressure.
-It is basically a pressure-sensitive energy ball that explodes like a bomb.
Invisible Ki Wave (Kiaiho) - This is an interesting technique, in that
it cannot be seen. It also unlike the kikou ha in the fact that it seems to be
a wave rather than a well-formed sphere of energy. The kiaiho does not explode
or generate heat of any kind. It is a manifestation of pure pressure. Goku
uses this technique to blow Frieza backwards, so being hit by this attack is
analogous to slamming into a brick wall. So here is my conclusion:
-It is basically a wave of pure physical force.
Ki balls in general:
Here's a pretty good analogy for what a ki ball is really like. A simple ball
of ki is alot like a spherical blob of liquid. This blob of "liquid energy" is
held together by a surface tension similar to that which you would find in
water. This surface tension is much stronger than the surface tension of
water, so it allows the ball to retain a spherical shape rather than simply
spilling out of the user's hands. The surface tension also serves to keep the
ki ball from exploding suddenly. If the surface tension is pierced or
disrupted, then the energy inside of the ball is released in the form of an
explosion. As soon as a ki ball is released from it's user's hand, it's
surface tension seems to become less stable, which may cause the ball to
suddenly explode in midair after traveling a huge distance. This is similar to
water balloons suddenly exploding because the rubber has become too weak.
Because of this, a ki ball is very similar to a spherical blob of explosive
liquid, such as nitroglycerin.
Ki balls are elastic and can change shape after they are thrown. It is often
seen in the show where someone forms a nice spherical ball of ki in their
hands, but the sphere then stretches and flattens as it is thrown, much like a
water balloon. Much as two drops of water can merge and form a bigger drop,
two similar ki balls can combine to form a larger ki ball. The surface
tensions of the two smaller balls combine with each other and envelope the new
ki ball. However, two unlike ki balls seem to have trouble combining with each
other. If two different kinds of ki balls were to touch one another, they
would either flatten out, or explode (depending on the force with which they
meet).
So here is my interpretation of ki balls:
-You can say that a ki ball is physically similar to a gelatinous or fluid
ball of nitroglycerin, that is cool to the touch, but explodes if the surface
tension of the nitroglycerin is pierced. The main difference is that ki balls
glow, and that ki balls are extremely light in weight (which shows why they
are relatively unaffected by gravity).
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Destructo Disk (Kienzan) - This is a flattened disk of energy that can cut
through a person like a knife cuts through butter. Once the ki is formed and
compressed into a disk, the kienzan is spun around at high-speed. Since ki
blasts are not hot, I believe that the kienzan accomplishes its cutting act
through friction. This is very similar to a buzz-saw. The ki that the disk is
made of seems to be much more solid than that in normal ki blasts, and it is
much more rigid. When the quickly-spinning, sharp edge of the kienzan touches
a piece of solid matter (such as rock or flesh), the friction generated from
the contact begins to rip away at the surface of the substance. The very sharp
edge of the kienzan makes the cutting process even easier.
The surface tension on a kienzan seems to be much stronger than that of a
standard ki ball. This explains why the disk can cut through extremely tough
objects without exploding, and why the disk is much more rigid than other ki
balls. The surface tension of a kienzan can be broken however, and the result
is an explosion. This can be seen where Goku throws a kienzan at Gotenks Buu.
After the disk cuts Buu in half, it spins off into the ground and promptly
explodes. So my here is my conclusion on the kienzan:
-It is very similar to a standard buzz-saw, but is much sharper and glows
because it is made of ki energy. It has an explosive core, but is hard to get
to because of an unusually strong surface tension. As with all ki-based
techniques, the kienzan is extremely light.
Kamehameha - The trademark technique of Master Roshi. In most ways, the
characteristics of a kamehameha wave are very similar to that of the kikou
ha. For many intents and purposes, it is just like a blue kikou ha with a
greater than average energy content. The user therefore has the ability to
fill the kamehameha wave with more ki than an equivalent kikou ha, showing
that it has a greater energy density and a stronger surface tension to hold
the energy in with. It is unlike the kikou ha in the way that it is
manipulable after being fired. The technique can be bent or guided towards
an enemy, which shows that the user has the ability to telepathically
manipulate the force and direction of the ki blast. This can be seen when
Goku guides a kamehameha wave towards Raditz as he runs from the attack.
Another interesting property of this attack is its ability to be launched in
the form of a beam. This indicates that a constant stream of ki energy must
be flowing from the user's hands while the attack is in motion. It is
analogous to the water flowing from a water faucet. If two kamehameha waves
collide with one another, then it is like having two jets of water spraying
into each other. Where the ki blasts collide, the ki from the beams is
sprayed outward in a radial pattern and it loses it's luminosity. This
invisible, sprayed-off energy is similar to the pressure waves generated by
a kiaiho, causing the ground and surrounding objects to break apart and
crumble from the extreme tension around the collision point of the beams.
This can be seen where Superperfect Cell beam-duels with SSJ2 Gohan. In this
case, the pressure waves are so strong that the entire planet shakes from
them.
Galick Gun (Gyariku Ho) - A technique used by Vegeta which is similar
to the kamehameha. Like the kamehameha, it is more powerful than a standard
kikou ha and can be fired in the form of a steady beam. However, it cannot
be controlled or guided like the kamehameha can, but rather shoots in the
direction it is released. It is also more powerful than the kamehameha,
which indicates that it has a stronger surface tension and higher energy
density than the later. When Goku and Vegeta perform the kamehameha vs.
gyariku ho beam-duel, Vegeta is originally weaker than Goku at kaioken x 3.
Vegeta's power level is 18,000, and Goku's is 24,000. Since the beam duel is
a dead draw until Goku performs a kaioken x 4, the gyariku ho must have
given Vegeta more of a boost than what the kamehameha gave to Goku, so that
Vegeta's weaker power could close the gap between them. Vegeta seems to
forget about the gyariku ho later in the series, and instead uses techniques
such as the big bang attack and final flash.
Special Beam Cannon (Makankosappou) - This is the attack that finished
off Raditz. It is unlike a normal ki attack because it drills through it's
target like a screw being twisted into a block of wood. The blast is
composed of two beams: one central beam, and another beam which travels in a
corkscrew path around the central beam. This extra corkscrew beam helps the
blast to drill through matter more easily. The makankosappou is not guided
telepathically like the kamehameha, so it can miss it's intended target if
it is not aimed perfectly. It is not composed of any explosive ki, but
rather seems to be very solid and durable. In the manga, the makankosappou
is only piercing technique, and never explodes. The twisting action of the
beam serves to generate huge amounts of friction upon hitting an opponent,
which allows it to scewer them with little effort. Since this attack is used
so rarely in the manga, the specifics of its properties are unknown, but it
can probably be stopped by a target that is too tough to pierce.
Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack - Possibly one of the strangest ki attacks,
this abilty was created by Gotenks. The user of the technique gathers large
amounts of ki in their belly. Then, the ki slowly streams out of the mouth
to form an explosive, ghost-like apparition. Unlike other ki abilities, the
ghost that is formed seems to be composed of a condensed form of ki that is
solid rather than fluid. This can be seen when Super Buu's hand slams
directly into one of the ghosts, generating a solid impact. The solid ki
that the ghosts are made from seems to be sensitive to other sources of ki
(such as a ki blast, another ghost, or a person). Whenever a ghost touches a
ki source, they explode in a fashion similar to other ki attacks. They
appear not to be sensitive to objects that do not eminate ki, which can be
seen when a ghost lays on the floor of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber without
detonating.
Of course, the weirdest property of the ghosts is the fact that they are the
only ki attack with a consciousness. How Gotenks manages to do this is
unknown, but it can be presumed that he does it in a fashion similar to the
way that Tien produces mutiple minds for his split-form clones. Perhaps
Gotenks splits off a part of his own consciousness and puts it into the
ghosts' ki one-by-one. After the ghosts explode, the consciousness would
then return to Gotenks. It may be possible that Gotenks is able to create an
entirely new consciousness for the ghosts, but there is nowhere he could
have learned how. As with other ki balls, the ghosts are extremely light and
can use their own ki supply to fly wherever they wish to.
More to come!
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