| From: | "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Railgun |
| Date: | Fri, 1 Oct 1993 11:50:36 -0500 |
gun. It would shoot 1/2 steel balls.
The 'gun' consisted of four 200lb (pull) electro-magnets and four
photogates. The 'bullet' fit snugly into a rail created by two metal
rods and roll down the rods.
How it worked is such: when the power was turned on, all four magnets
were set to north (the ball has a south charge). The ball would race
down its rails attracted by the four magnets. As the ball passed each
magnet, it would trip a photogate which would order the Apple II
computer to reverse the charge in the magnet (thus pushing the ball
instead of pulling it). This would happen for each of the four magnets.
It sorta worked. When it did work, it would propel the steel ball at
sevel hundred feet-per-second (at least with enough intertia to bury
itself about an inch into a chunk of pine or heavily dent a 1cm slab of
steel). unfortunately, the whole setup weighed about 80 lbs and was very
bunky (the 'barrel' was about 4' long). Accuracy was also nil. We also
had a problem with the gun attracting everything metal for about 5'
around it (for example, the tube of iron filings that someone tipped over).
It also used A LOT of power.
We were going to make one that was 8' long with 10 or 12 magnets, but we
couldn't get the harware necessary for the computer to flip 12 photogates.
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