| From: | "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | RailGuns |
| Date: | Sun, 10 Apr 1994 13:17:06 -0500 |
mmeaning. Back in my high school physics class (way back in the dark ages
of Reagan America) I built as a project what would be characterized as a
'rail gun', which fired a 1/4" steel pellet by the use of seven magnets.
Here's how I set it up.
v v v v v v
>> o | | | | | |
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
o= pellet
>= magnets
Now, the one magnet at the end was set to repulse the ball down the
'rail' past the others.
At the same location of each of the six magnets was a photogate tied to
an Apple II computer (a powerful machine at the time).
When the weapon was powered, each of the six magnets on the barrel were
set to attract the ball. As the ammunition rolled down the barrel, it
would trip the photogate associated with each magnet, which would reverse
the current and polarity of that magnet, so it was now PUSHING on the
pellet.
At any time, all seven magnets would be acting on the pellet, either
pushing it or pulling it.
Now, as for damage.
We fired the weapon twelve times. The target was a series of 2x4s arranged
into a 12"x12"x12" block located six feet from the weapon. On average,
each pellet struck the block and embedded itself about 1.5 inches into
the wood block. The deepest was about 2", the shallowest made a hole
about 3/4" deep.
I blame the crudity of the instrument for the varying data
Power used was not measured, but we fed the whole thing off of a single
110 outlet (the computer was powered seperately)
____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
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