Navy to test new rail gun prototype

[Scutter01]

Check out the shockwave in front of this railgun round. Awesome!

U.S. Navy set to test first industry railgun prototype - Images


Put in the long gun forum because, let's face it, it'll be a ship-mounted cannon.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Awesome shockwave indeed! I'm assuming the blue plasma looking "flame" behind it is from the heat generated by the electromagnetic launch as well as the mach 5 velocity?

I'm a mechanical engineer, so using explosives to launch projectiles makes good sense to me. All this electro-magnetic magic is where I get a little foggy.

 

[Scutter01]

Awesome shockwave indeed! I'm assuming the blue plasma looking "flame" behind it is from the heat generated by the electromagnetic launch as well as the mach 5 velocity?

I'm a mechanical engineer, so using explosives to launch projectiles makes good sense to me. All this electro-magnetic magic is where I get a little foggy.

The photo is four years old and it's from the EM railgun demonstrator at the lab where it was developed, not from the prototype being delivered to the Navy this week. I don't know what the blue flame is. Railguns generate a TON of heat, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if it were contaminants on the round burning off.

Here's a reverse-angle shot of (I think) the same cannon all but destroying itself when the round is fired:

http://www.gizmag.com/us-office-of-naval-research-electromagnetic-railgun/11035/

 

[Scutter01]

Here's a partial explanation for the flame:

"The flames are from pieces of the projectile disintegrating; the 7-pound slug is jammed so firmly between the rails that when it's fired, pieces shear off and ignite in the air."
Navy Tests 32-Megajoule Railgun | Popular Science

[ame]http://youtu.be/i1q_rRicAwI[/ame]

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Awesome shockwave indeed! I'm assuming the blue plasma looking "flame" behind it is from the heat generated by the electromagnetic launch as well as the mach 5 velocity?

I'm a mechanical engineer, so using explosives to launch projectiles makes good sense to me. All this electro-magnetic magic is where I get a little foggy.

Meh...think about starting an electric motor...it's just like that, but instead of spinning around an axis, it goes in a straight line....but very, very fast.

 

[jve153]

just imagine where this will lead years from now. people will have battery operated pistols. could be a very bad day if you pull it only to realize your s/o robbed a battery to feed the remote control.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

just imagine where this will lead years from now. people will have battery operated pistols. could be a very bad day if you pull it only to realize your s/o robbed a battery to feed the remote control.

This could lead to a whole new green energy industry...solar powered rifles! SolendraColt.

 

[jeremy]

I am thinking Group buy....

 

[IndianaGTI]

Sounds great. No explosives needed. Just cannonballs with no powder. One little emp will be able to take out an entire destroyer.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

just imagine where this will lead years from now. people will have battery operated pistols. could be a very bad day if you pull it only to realize your s/o robbed a battery to feed the remote control.

If I had access to youtube while at work, i would find the video, but a guy made a "rail pistol" so to speak and it used to to send the bullet at empty cans. Granted I doubt it had enough umph to kill a guy, but im sure it could put a hurtin on some one.

 

[yotewacker]

I watched a couple of years ago I think it was. Where NASA decided to launch small satellite into space with a rail gun. The satellite disintegrated on launch. The electronics would not take the tremendous amount of G forces.
Since it elementary electronics, I'd think they should be able to gradually increase the velocity to reduce initial G forces. It's the same principle as your door bell rings. A plunger is pushed through a energized coil and the magnetic field pushes the metal away. I'm told The fastest gunpowder made only explodes at about 5,500 fps and the rail gun should do 186,000 miles per second. This is a huge difference.
Just think, we could eliminate bullet drop while hunting or shooting and if we always had a good backstop for bullet stop.

 

[Scutter01]

. I'm told The fastest gunpowder made only explodes at about 5,500 fps and the rail gun should do 186,000 miles per second. This is a huge difference.

A rail gun cannot accelerate a projectile to 186,000 miles per second. That's the speed of light. The amount of energy required to accelerate an object with mass even to an appreciable fraction of the speed of light would be more than the total available on the planet Earth.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Would this thing be defined as a firearm? Would the 2A allow us to keep and bear? Would you need a LTCH?

 

[Scutter01]

Would this thing be defined as a firearm? Would the 2A allow us to keep and bear? Would you need a LTCH?

I think you'd need a ship with a nuclear reactor on it to power the thing.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I think you'd need a ship with a nuclear reactor on it to power the thing.

There's always a catch...not a firearm...but wait, it's a nuclear powered device and they don't pass out permits for those like Halloween candy.

 

[VidGuy]

I don't know what "Velocitas Eradico" means ("quickly destroy"?), but it sounds really cool...

 

[fullmetaljesus]

There's always a catch...not a firearm...but wait, it's a nuclear powered device and they don't pass out permits for those like Halloween candy.

Just build a smaller version using an array of car batteries, then you could have a truck mounted rail gun.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I don't know what "Velocitas Eradico" means ("quickly destroy"?), but it sounds really cool...

Wasn't that one of the Wile E. Coyote's nicknames?

 

[Scutter01]

I don't know what "Velocitas Eradico" means ("quickly destroy"?), but it sounds really cool...

"Speed Destroys"

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

I WANT ONE!