Muzzle Veolcities

[Grudge]

You can build a huge railgun in orbit and use a series of small nuclear explosions to propel a solid slug the size of a shipping container to relativistic speeds. That would put a pretty big dent into basically anything it hits. It would be a one-shot weapon though.

[Canis]

Now you only have to figure out how to synchronize a series of nuclear explosions such that they propel the object in the same direction upon each blast.

[Grudge]

I think that's a comparatively small concern.

If you know the exact yield of the nuclear devices you can calculate the speed of the slug after each explosion, timing each one to go off right after the slug has moved past it.

[[xeno]Julios]

how would the energy of the nuclear explosion transfer into kinetic energy of the projectile?

If we wanted to do it efficiently, we'd probably end up destroying the projectile in the first place.

Now if all the energy from nuclear explosions was somehow harnessed into a form which could provide non-destructive forces (such as electromagnetic fields), then I could see it working.

[l0g1c]

You mean, kind of like an EMP?

[MKJ]

i was going to say "just ask kracus, he knows all about this stuff" but then toxicthug came around to answer all your questions

[[xeno]Julios]

You mean, kind of like an EMP?

electromagnetic pulse?

well i was just thinking of a railgun or guass gun - i don't know much about the technology, but isn't the idea that you accelerate a projectile using a force field which acts as an acceleration force?

or are you suggesting that a nuclear explosion would cause an EMP?

[l0g1c]

You mean, kind of like an EMP?

electromagnetic pulse?

well i was just thinking of a railgun or guass gun - i don't know much about the technology, but isn't the idea that you accelerate a projectile using a force field which acts as an acceleration force?

or are you suggesting that a nuclear explosion would cause an EMP?

Yep. Just pointing out that the two aren't exclusive. I'm not sure if there is anything more effective at producing an EMP, but a nuke would do the job just fine. Just speculation and conjecture, though.

[Grudge]

Nuclear blasts won't generate an EMP outside the Earth's magnetic field.

The nuclear railgun would rather work by using shaped nuclear charges and a slug with an Uranium backside (which is opaque to electromagnetic radiation) to catch the blast.

Railgun in this context would just mean that the projectile is guided by rails as it is subjected to a series of accelerations.

[[xeno]Julios]

The nuclear railgun would rather work by using shaped nuclear charges and a slug with an Uranium backside (which is opaque to electromagnetic radiation) to catch the blast.

the opacity will protect it from heat damage then? What about the shockwave - wouldnt' that compromise the structural integrity of the projectile?

Railgun in this context would just mean that the projectile is guided by rails as it is subjected to a series of accelerations.

ahh - makes sense.



so do you think controlled nuclear explosions along a rail would be the most powerful way to accelerate an object along a controlled trajectory (forgetting questions of efficiency)?

[l0g1c]

Nuclear blasts won't generate an EMP outside the Earth's magnetic field.

Cool. Did a quick Google search to see what actually causes the EMP and learned something. :icon14:

[Grudge]

the opacity will protect it from heat damage then? What about the shockwave - wouldnt' that compromise the structural integrity of the projectile?

About 90% of the energy of a nuclear blast (in vacuum) would be x-rays, and the remaining 10% would be neutrons. This will hit the Uranium shield of the slug and accelerate it. Of course you would have to adapt the yield of the nuclear device and the trigger timing so that it won't destroy the slug, only give it a push.

ahh - makes sense.

so do you think controlled nuclear explosions along a rail would be the most powerful way to accelerate an object along a controlled trajectory (forgetting questions of efficiency)?

Well, if you want to accelerate a very heavy object very quickly (i.e. use it as a weapon), I can't really think of anything more powerful. Sure, a chemical rocket could also accelerate it pretty fast, but not as fast.

[hax103]

turns out some research labs are making prototypes at

20,000 m/s

" The propulsion speed of a railgun developed at Sandia National Laboratory is 20 km/sec."

omg.

naturally the military is interested

besides, i need one to go with my portable rocket launcher.

linkage (looks legit to me...):

http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/05_23_2 ... s_ben.html

Well according to Wikipedia, the muzzle velocity of an M16 is 974 m/s tops, click and a 9mm as a muzzle velocity of 390 m/s tops click] as well it claims that a railgun has one of 3500 m/s [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun]click Not saying Wikipedia is always right, but it would seem that they have numbers much lower then us.

[[xeno]Julios]

About 90% of the energy of a nuclear blast (in vacuum) would be x-rays, and the remaining 10% would be neutrons. This will hit the Uranium shield of the slug and accelerate it. Of course you would have to adapt the yield of the nuclear device and the trigger timing so that it won't destroy the slug, only give it a push.

...

Well, if you want to accelerate a very heavy object very quickly (i.e. use it as a weapon), I can't really think of anything more powerful. Sure, a chemical rocket could also accelerate it pretty fast, but not as fast.

interesting stuff - but what about a very powerful electromagnetic that accelerates an object along a rail? I think that's gauss stuff right? Wonder how powerful that would be versus nuclear.

gnite