Navy Tests Railgun

[Trooper110]

Too bad it uses too much energy for current generator/capacitor capabilities. I read the article a few days back, I believe they said right now they're shooting for a rail gun that will fire a projectile at around mach 2, and that still has some energy issues as wel. Once they get the power systems in place to back up a high velocity rail gun, or somehow decrease power consumption, then we're talking a viable military weapon.

These devices have also been proposed to laugh vehicles in to space as well, built up the side of a mountain to provide enough acceleration and thrust to break free of the earth's gravity. Again the major problem is power consumption, although it would be a violent launch and human survivability is a question. Would be useful for laughing a non-living payload though as the main limitation is energy to power it, no combustion or throw-away chemical propellant systems involved.

[mapes]

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.

Your right. I was thinking of a Mass Driver

[-IRC-MIKE]

With a magnet of that magnitude mounted on a naval ship, I would imagine when you fire that bad boy up there'll be all kinds of metallic debris on the ocean floor that comes up and sticks to the bottom of the ship until the projectile is released. Wouldn't it be a large electromagnet? I'm not quite sure how this thing works but I'm sure there would be some interference issues as well, while trying to harnace that much power.

[mapes]

With a magnet of that magnitude mounted on a naval ship, I would imagine when you fire that bad boy up there'll be all kinds of metallic debris on the ocean floor that comes up and sticks to the bottom of the ship until the projectile is released. Wouldn't it be a large electromagnet? I'm not quite sure how this thing works but I'm sure there would be some interference issues as well, while trying to harnace that much power.

Nah its a giant coil magnet or series of coils that get switched on for a millisecond in series.

[xGoblin013x]

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.

Your right. I was thinking of a Mass Driver

Well, anything that can be polarized can be held by elctromagnetic pulses.... For instance, I read an article about how a super-powerful electromagnet could lift and hold water-containing objects because of H2O's polarity. They had a picture of what looked like a frog levitating in the magnet's ring...
In theory, a big enough (or strong enough) railgun could launch anything with water in it... I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

[Thrashdragon]

I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

At Mach 7 I don't think it matters what we shoot at them.

[CarbonFire]

I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

At Mach 7 I don't think it matters what we shoot at them.

Artillery-grade chickens anyone?

[Thrashdragon]

I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

At Mach 7 I don't think it matters what we shoot at them.

Artillery-grade chickens anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7t9j...eature=related

Yeah.

[-IRC-MIKE]

Call it the Garbage Disposal. Hell we'll just freeze all our garbage and fire it over at them. Clean up our own while barraging them with human biological refuse. WHO WOULDN'T give up...?

[darth_nevus]

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.

Your right. I was thinking of a Mass Driver

Well, anything that can be polarized can be held by elctromagnetic pulses.... For instance, I read an article about how a super-powerful electromagnet could lift and hold water-containing objects because of H2O's polarity. They had a picture of what looked like a frog levitating in the magnet's ring...
In theory, a big enough (or strong enough) railgun could launch anything with water in it... I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

Cows. Lots and Lots of Cows.

Basically, EVERYTHING has some magnetic properties to it. the larger the magnet, the larger potential to "grab" it. even light can be bent & shaped by magnets. the CRT is another example of this.

A good example is the tokamac. this "reactor" uses very high powered electromagnets to actually force duterium(sp? andi know it) and other gasses into a small stream, and funnel it around inside a torus. the magnets also help contain the heat, which once ingited, exceeds the temp of the sun.

there is no metal in hydrogen, or any of its variants, yet, electromagents can influcence its velocity, and direction.

in short, ANYTHING can be hurled by a rail gun of sufficient magnatude. and as far as sucking stuff up from the ocean floor, probably not. there is a limitation to how far the magnetic field extends. ever taken the magnets out of an old hard drive? they are made of neodyniam, and VERY powerful rare earth magnets. together with a voice coil, the move the drive heads across the platter of a hard drive. those same magnets don't disrupt the magnetic bits on the platters them selves, despite their proximity to the platters. thats a whole other matter.

but crap. fire cows. the hindu nations would grind to a halt, global warming would cease to exist, and the thought of a flying cow moooooing into enemy territoy would send anyone running. why does it have to be when pigs fly? and not cows?

btw. its not hard either to use a modern pc, some magnetic wire, a few relays, an rs-232 port, and a BIC pen tube to make your own. its not powerful enough to launch something trough a wall, but very neat to watch, and gives a great understanding how the rail gun/mass driver/mag lev tech nology works. its also a good way to blow some time. lol. i shot a paper clip through mine. takes alot of cailbration and a good understand of math.

[Rand{CLR}]

Railgun power systems would obviously be shielded. Forget ocean floor debris: you don't want it ripping fillings out of the crew's mouths, and that would just be the starting point.

Tattoo? Metal screws? Metal PLATE? All sort of bad news for an ultra powerful magnet.

-Rand

[Mobojo]

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.

Your right. I was thinking of a Mass Driver

Well, anything that can be polarized can be held by elctromagnetic pulses.... For instance, I read an article about how a super-powerful electromagnet could lift and hold water-containing objects because of H2O's polarity. They had a picture of what looked like a frog levitating in the magnet's ring...
In theory, a big enough (or strong enough) railgun could launch anything with water in it... I don't have any idea what we'd want to fire at our enemies other than metal ammuntion though...

Cows. Lots and Lots of Cows.

Basically, EVERYTHING has some magnetic properties to it. the larger the magnet, the larger potential to "grab" it. even light can be bent & shaped by magnets. the CRT is another example of this.

A good example is the tokamac. this "reactor" uses very high powered electromagnets to actually force duterium(sp? andi know it) and other gasses into a small stream, and funnel it around inside a torus. the magnets also help contain the heat, which once ingited, exceeds the temp of the sun.

there is no metal in hydrogen, or any of its variants, yet, electromagents can influcence its velocity, and direction.

in short, ANYTHING can be hurled by a rail gun of sufficient magnatude. and as far as sucking stuff up from the ocean floor, probably not. there is a limitation to how far the magnetic field extends. ever taken the magnets out of an old hard drive? they are made of neodyniam, and VERY powerful rare earth magnets. together with a voice coil, the move the drive heads across the platter of a hard drive. those same magnets don't disrupt the magnetic bits on the platters them selves, despite their proximity to the platters. thats a whole other matter.

but crap. fire cows. the hindu nations would grind to a halt, global warming would cease to exist, and the thought of a flying cow moooooing into enemy territoy would send anyone running. why does it have to be when pigs fly? and not cows?

btw. its not hard either to use a modern pc, some magnetic wire, a few relays, an rs-232 port, and a BIC pen tube to make your own. its not powerful enough to launch something trough a wall, but very neat to watch, and gives a great understanding how the rail gun/mass driver/mag lev tech nology works. its also a good way to blow some time. lol. i shot a paper clip through mine. takes alot of cailbration and a good understand of math.

Substitute thread with post.

[TheSilentAssassin]

How bout this? From Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty?