Rail Gun, EM Gun

Does anyone jave any info o rspecs on these types of weapons. I know that they are not yet deployed on the battle field, but they will. Also if there are any pictures I would be happy to see them. Thank you.

Also I do know that the guns use a magnetic pulse to fired a metal shell at high mach speeds.

(fictional of course)... ERASER (Schwarzenegger flick). Also, see Quake III (I believe). Basically they use electromagnetism to accellerate the projectile to incredible speed. Nice thing about it, is that at such speeds, it's less affected by factors that would alter the trajectory of a standard shell, not to mention, it'd be easier to hit a fast moving target...like a jet, or another incoming missile perhaps....

I am not sure but I think I posted the plans for how to build a rail gun and a few others as well. If I didnt do this let me know I will go and search for it and post it again.

Falcon

Here is an interesting link.

www.powerlabs.org...

Interesting, thanks for the link.

During WW2 the Germans experimented with this concept as an anti-aircraft weapon. Two seperate designs were underway and built but never became operational. Monster rail guns were on the drawing board by which balistic missiles and their payloads would be boosted into orbit. The problem was that this technology took a tremendous amount of electric energy and so would never have been effective as an A-A weapon except for spot defense. There are two papers on this. One post war in English based on German a translation and the other more detailed treatment which was penned during the war and in German. It didn't take a "Manhattan Project" to do this and we could have been using this technology instead of the shuttle for low orbit payloads long ago if we had been willing to do so.

Basically a rail gun uses magnetic repulsion through twin rails to fire a metal slug.
Here is a short paragraph from the 3rd site below.

RailGuns are by far the most spectacular type of electromagnetic accelerators ever developed. They hold the record for fastest object accelerated of a significant mass, for the 16000m/s firing of a .1 gram object by Sandia National Research Laboratories' 6mm Hypervelocity Launcher, and they can also propel objects of very sizeable masses to equally impressive velocities, such as in the picture to the left, where Maxwell Laboratories' 32Megajoule gun fires a 1.6kilogram projectile at 3300m/s (that's 9megajoules of kinetic energy!) at Green Farm research facility. Their ability to propel objects at speeds which are simply impossible for conventional (chemical or mechanical) means makes them extremely useful for a range of functions. The most obvious one being defense, where most of the research money in this area comes from nowadays, but NASA has also been funding RailGun research for hypervelocity impact simulations which will allow shields to be developed which will protect orbiting aircraft from high velocity debris surrounding the earth. NASA is also researching the possibility of a launcher which would deliver payloads into orbit at a fraction of the cost of a rocket launch. Similarly, other studies are under progress for the utilization of RailGuns in Fusion Fuel pellet Injectors for experimental nuclear fusion reactors, and also for metallurgical bonding; the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, identified that the Electromagnetic Powder Deposition (by a railgun) process is capable of achieving a coating of deposit material with bond strength equal to the base material while achieving less than 3% porosity. This should soon become a repair method for jet engine components, as similar processes are also being employed to produce extremely high shock pressures on collisions between dissimilar materials in an attempt to produce new materials.

Rail Gun technology also has the potential to revolutionize transportation: Sandia National Laboratories is working on a Segmented Rail Phased Induction Motor (SERAPHIM), a new type of linear induction motor offering unique capabilities for high-thrust, high-speed propulsion for urban maglev transit, advanced monorail, and other forms of high-speed ground transportation. Linear induction motors are already in use for applications such as airport transit systems, subway systems, theme park rides, and industrial material handling systems.


Below are a few good sites that are helpful. The second two are better though (The above paragraph is from the last one)

members.iinet.net.au...

powerlabs.org...

he also is making a new one
powerlabs.org...

enjoy learning.

llama009

[edit on 25/5/05 by llama009]

[edit on 25/5/05 by llama009]

Can you imagine what a 1 gram object would be like hitting a tank at mach 45, now thats the kind of speed the Sandia National Research Laboratories' 6mm Hypervelocity Launcher is capable of.

and to think people were complaining of over-shoot with the main gun of an M-1 battle tank.

Frankly, most tlak of using railguns to send useful payloads into orbit is a little far fetched. It's bad enough that we used German balistic missile designs for the first rockets, and have never since had the sence to reduce the G-forces involved. The forces involved in trying to send objects into space off of any surface mounted acceleration system are so great you'd have a VERY hard time not crushing every payload you try to send up. (yes, even if you build a mile long accelerator) While moving raw materials into orbit this way might seem practicle, expensive satilites and manned missions are another matter, requiring a gentler approach.