Science Project gone WMD

Spee · 2004-09-16, 11:37 PM

I once read on a site that there was a method of creating a railgun. A very weak, very limited-in-scope railgun, but a railgun nontheless.

It consisted of 1 iron ball bearing, 1 magnet, 2BB's, 1 magnet, 2 BB's, 1 magnet, 2 BB's, 1 magnet, 1 BB. According to the formula presented there, the force put into the first magnet is multiplied through the amount of magnets, using some crazyass form of conductivity.

Thus, if 1 lbs of pressure were put into this system, which had 4 magnets, 1 lb would be multiplied to 2, then to 4, then to 6, resulting in the final ball bearing being propelled at 6 pounds of pressure.

The reason it hasnt been implemented in military projects, Id assume, is because of the length needed to obtain good muzzle velocity, and the method of reloading.

But, barring that, would it not be feasible to extrapolate this to a sort of giant orbital cannon? a 2.5 mile long structure in space, with say, the final "ball bearing" being a 3' long iron pole, would result in rediculous devastation, would it not? Or, did all thisdirty talk of a rail gun give me an evil genius hard-on?

Science majors, tear me apart.

Smaug · 2004-09-16, 11:40 PM

I'd guess it hasn't been done because there is no demand. Sure, the military could use it, but conventional firearms work just fine right now. So, there is no need to waste funding atm.

I'm also guessing it would only be truly effective in large scale. Like, warships, or aircraft weaponry. There is currently a rail gun being developed for use on U.S. warships. I'm pretty sure its a different design though.

StrangeFellow · 2004-09-16, 11:41 PM

Rbstr · 2004-09-16, 11:44 PM

i've toyed with railguns and coil guns thier more compact but lower powered cousin.

a real railgun is acctualy muchs easer to use, after you have ti set up i had a whole bunch of links on this stuff, its crazy how it works google railguns

Spider · 2004-09-16, 11:50 PM

I don't know about you... but making a portable gun out of it would be dangerous to the bearer no? I mean that much magnetic exposure has GOT to fuck something up.

Spee · 2004-09-16, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by Spider

I don't know about you... but making a portable gun out of it would be dangerous to the bearer no? I mean that much magnetic exposure has GOT to fuck something up.

Magnets are actually a fad akin to Tai-Chi for lazy assholes. Its supposed to relax muscles, and whatnot.

So, you might become really at ease while turning your enemy into vapors?

Spider · 2004-09-16, 11:59 PM

I thought it was like radiation... being exposed to a bit is fine (cell phone) but too much is REALLY bad.

Spee · 2004-09-17, 12:05 AM

Neg. Magnetism is completely harmless.

Unless youre a body-mod fanatic who happens to be near a MRI machine thats on

martyr · 2004-09-17, 02:18 AM

spee's right about magnetism.

i must point out:

railguns != WMDs.

they're weapons of concentrated destruction.

Breed · 2004-09-17, 04:26 AM

Pffft, i don't see the big deal with WMD.
I'd rather be instantly vapourised by a tactical nuke than take one in the belly and slowly bleed to death.
Then again you'll always get some nutter who uses them in civilised areas.

Railgun sounds cool, i thought warships had a railgun prototype on them? It uses a magnetic force or something but isn't quite the same as the ones were used to in sci-fi games?

Sorry if this has already been said in the thread but i just wanted to make a quick post

ObnoxiousFrog · 2004-09-17, 06:20 AM

The purpose of a WMD is to severely fuck up the civilian population where it is dropped, whether it be full-on vaporization (a la nuke) or a much more painful and possibly more widespread devestation (bio and chem weapons). Even if you do drop it in a militarized zone, civilian casualties are inevitable.

OfaLoaf · 2004-09-17, 07:10 AM

Forgive me for poor memory in this realm, but wouldn't 6 lbs. of pressure be rather weak?

Indecisive · 2004-09-17, 08:16 AM

Which is the point. Its just an example of what you could do if you made the thing 2 miles long.

Everay · 2004-09-17, 04:09 PM

i know there was at some point a goverment experement going on that was supposed to have our tanks outfited with railguns by 2011, real leet man. if you threw it into space, made it automatic, loads of ammo, automated, fuck man, i belive the projectile would fire little under .10c, but im not certain

Rbstr · 2004-09-17, 04:26 PM

yeah the military is working on magnetic weapons, infact there are several in the testing stages currently, They had a speical about cannons on the history channel and at the end they had a coil based gun that could punch though more armor than the current Abrams gun.

Railguns would be more for artilery, and coil guns would get teh more tactical use in tanks, and sniper weapons, then eventualy to assault rifles