Navy Tests Railgun

[Thrashdragon]

Text and a video clip at this link:

http://www.livescience.com/technolog...ic-record.html

The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact.

[CarbonFire]

Yeah saw this yesterday, quite amazing and really cool

Anyone know why it still looks like a chemical propellant explosion? Or did they just fire it in a high-oxygen environment?

[paceman]

I don't remember what they said, but it was explained in the article on Fox news.

[Rovey Wade]

Yeah saw this yesterday, quite amazing and really cool

Anyone know why it still looks like a chemical propellant explosion? Or did they just fire it in a high-oxygen environment?

Maybe it just heats up the air around it like when something re-enters the atmosphere.

I noticed there is even fire on the target when it hits.


edit: on second thought, it looks a little like combustion.

[dirtyoldgoat]

Anyone know why it still looks like a chemical propellant explosion?

My guess as to the combustion your seeing is the foam lining they used on the slug to make it fit snugly into the launch tube.

[-Bar]

Sweet. Hopefully it is cheaper then the weapons we have in place... lol

[Kriotek]

it could be quite posible that the fire is from the caseing/basket that the solid shot sits inside to stop it from scraping up the sides of the barel on the way out, and the bang might just be a sonic boom.
(dont take my word on any of that as i havnt really looked it up and im defenetly not an expert )

[Kriotek]

was beaten to the punch lol.

yeah it should be cheaper in the long run what with the ammo just being lumps of moulded metal.

[-Bar]

yeah it should be cheaper in the long run what with the ammo just being lumps of moulded metal.

lol


"Aye Captain, we don't like these new plates. Can we throw them in the cannon as blast them away ?"


EDIT - Better yet, I can see the crew tearing apart a ship because they ran out of ammo.

[Kriotek]

hehe
technically if its metal it will fire from a rail gun so you can put the bolts the forks and the sink in there if you want too.
LOL

[juneau]

yeah it should be cheaper in the long run what with the ammo just being lumps of moulded metal.

lol


"Aye Captain, we don't like these new plates. Can we throw them in the cannon as blast them away ?"


EDIT - Better yet, I can see the crew tearing apart a ship because they ran out of ammo.

I'm imagining cutlery being fired now.

[xGoblin013x]

hmmmm...
Anyone else thinkin' Gauss rifle from Crysis?

Anyway, that is just plain cool!

[th3st1ck]

awesome

[mapes]

hehe
technically if its metal it will fire from a rail gun so you can put the bolts the forks and the sink in there if you want too.
LOL

A rail gun doesn't have to fire metal..

[Kriotek]

what else can a rail gun fire i thought they used magnets to prepel objects (suppose if there is a magnetic thing out there that isnt metal) curious now need to know.