The electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) is a weapon that uses electricity instead of gunpowder to send projectiles downrange. Railguns use magnetic fields created by high electrical currents to accelerate a projectile to Mach 6, or 5,400 miles an hour.
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How does a railgun work physics?
A coilgun uses a series of electromagnetic coils to accelerate a ferromagnetic projectile. For the railgun, the projectile is accelerated because of a current running through the projectile. This means that it only needs to be an electric conductor and not a ferromagnetic material.
Why are railguns not practical?
Because while railguns are a huge step up from conventional artillery and have a lot of advantages, there are also some serious drawbacks. First, they need a decent amount of deck space as well as a ton of space below decks. That’s because the guns require a ton of electricity, up to 9 kilowatt hours per shot.
Does railgun use Lorentz force?
The Navy’s electromagnetic railgun launcher uses the Lorentz force to hurl a 23-pound projectile at speeds exceeding Mach 7. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.
How much armor can a railgun penetrate?
Using electromagnetic energy, the gun can fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles – with such force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates.
Can a railgun shoot into space?
Railguns can acheive a muzzle velocity of a projectile on the order of 7.5 km/s. The Earth’s escape velocity is 11.2 km/s. It seems to me that a railgun style launch device built into a deep shaft such as an abandoned mine could reasonably launch a vehicle into space.
What metal is used in Railguns?
Typically, the current used in medium- to large-caliber rail guns is in the millions of amps. The rails are lengths of conductive metal, such as copper. They can range from four to 30 feet (9 meters) long.
How much damage can a railgun do?
The Rail Gun deals 500-550 damage to structures and can also pierce through a single structure without losing damage. Damage per second does not take into account charge up time.
How far can a railgun shoot in a straight line?
How far can a railgun shoot? A railgun’s effective range is closely related to the speed at which it can launch a projectile. Land or ship-based railguns with Mach 6 capabilities are understood to have effective ranges of roughly 126 miles (202.7 km) or 110 nautical miles (177.02 km) at sea.
How many volts does a railgun use?
Railguns typically operate above a thousand volts, generating huge currents for a few milliseconds to provide thousands of g’s of acceleration to a small projectile.
Do railguns make noise?
“It’s electrically fired, and they expect a whoosh and no sound.” In reality, when the bullet emerges, it lets out a crack as electricity arcs through the air like lightning.
How much power is needed to fire a railgun?
Powering a Railgun A good figure to start with is 25 megajoules. Since a joule is equivalent to one watt for one second, that means that for a railgun to shoot a projectile, it needs power equivalent to 25 megawatts for one second.
Does a railgun shoot in a straight line?
There are several documents from the US Navy that clearly show us that railgun rounds are not fired straight at the target but fired at an angle, with a parabolic trajectory, consistent with other applications of ballistics.
What is a railgun projectile made of?
The rails are made out of conductive metals (such as copper) which are fed with whopping amounts of energy from a generator — one side positive, the other negative — to propel the armature at great speed and distance via magnetic force.
Does a railgun have recoil?
Recoil forces in EM railguns appear wherever the breech of the railgun i s closed electromagnetically. This means recoil forces may appear on power supply leads, switches, or power supply components them- selves.
What can stop a railgun?
Given the size and energy of the railgun round, any laser system capable of destroying an incoming railgun (or even an APDS-FS) round in flight would be a main weapon in its own right. Incoming rounds fired from ships at sea can be treated in a similar manner to incoming ballistic missiles.
How fast do railguns shoot?
Railguns are being researched as weapons with projectiles that do not contain explosives or propellants, but are given extremely high velocities: 2,500 m/s (8,200 ft/s) (approximately Mach 7 at sea level) or more.
How loud is a railgun?
Projectiles are guided to the target after leaving the launcher, and reach a target faster. At 100 yards, railguns sound no louder than a . 30-06 rifle firing. What little “smoke” they create is actually plasma particulates or dust.”
Can you fire gun on moon?
Despite the abundance of oxygen on Earth, however, most gun ammunition comes with its own oxidizer “built in”, so to speak. The result is that a gun can fire even in the absence of oxygen, such as on the Moon.
Can I own my own satellite?
You can use your own personal satellite for a variety of reasons that include scientific observation, star tracking, pointing them at certain objects or star clusters in space, and Earth surveillance.
Are mass drivers possible?
Later prototype mass drivers have been built since 1976 (Mass Driver 1), some constructed by the U.S. Space Studies Institute in order to prove their properties and practicality. Military R&D on coilguns is related, as are maglev trains.
Why are Railguns so powerful?
The railgun works by using extremely high electrical currents to generate magnetic fields capable of accelerating a projectile to speeds of up to Mach 6, more than twice as fast as existing projectiles.
What is the range of a railgun?
A rail gun is a kinetic energy weapon that can fire a projectile at seven times the speed of sound with electromagnetic force and hit a target over 200km (125 miles) away – more than 10 times the typical range of a cannon.
Can railguns shoot through walls?
Fortnite Season 7’s Rail Gun can shoot through walls | The Loadout.
How much is a railgun cost?
“It’s still a dangerous electrical device, and it’s not a toy.” A startup called Arcflash Labs is selling a $3,750 handheld railgun — and it’s officially available for preorder now.