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Rail guns: the future?

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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zumwalt_class_destroyer

This is a link to the zumwalt class destroyer, currently being designed by the us navy to be equipped with a rail gun. The rail gun prototype currently working can fire 220 miles and requires 32 Mega-joules of electrical energy.

So, my though was:

given the nature of a rail gun (a projectile propelled by incredibly strong alternating electromagnets), would these one day be used in space warfare?

Discuss.
Aug 18 2010 12:54AM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
5,000,000 T34 tanks equipped with railgun shells?


I like your thought process comrade.



VIVA LA REVOLUTION!
Aug 18 2010 2:58AM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Hahahaha :)
Aug 18 2010 3:01AM
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fdsa
Posts: 686 - Karma: 19
A rail gun is not a particularly practical space based weapon because of the amount of power required. That, and it's basically overkill when there is already that much gravitational potential energy available from orbit.

Railguns and other types of energy weapons, such as those which boil the water on the surface of the skin to cause extreme discomfort (already in use) are the most likely future of weaponry.

That, and while it's becoming harder and harder to keep secrets, it's a good idea to always assume that any publicized military tech is 8-10 years behind what the R&D people are actually working on.

Case in point: the F-117. First flight in '81, operational '83, acknowledged to exist and revealed to the world in '88
Aug 18 2010 3:29AM
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EastCoast315
Posts: 3136 - Karma: 137
Avalanche control would be sick if they did it with small railguns
Aug 18 2010 6:36AM
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skiblandford
Posts: 1503 - Karma: 2
is there a magnetic field in space?
Aug 18 2010 11:39AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
The magnetic currents are on either side of the barrel of the gun, and it launches a pure metal projectile because the magnetics kinda pull it up and out of the barrel at ridiculous speeds. like mach 7.
Aug 18 2010 11:43AM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
Somebody embed this to show people how dank a railgun is...

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i1q_rRicAwI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i1q_rRicAwI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Aug 18 2010 11:57AM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
and they can hit a 5 meter board 220 nautical miles away with that thing. NBD
Aug 18 2010 11:59AM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
I'MA FIRIN MAH RAILGUN...

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Aug 18 2010 12:06PM
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hanksy
Posts: 659 - Karma: 265
This thread is fun. As far as the State of the Union, it's pretty solid knowledge that there are multiple escape routes that go well underground, specifically deep enough to not be effected by a nuclear attack. Now, a rain gun? Not sure if they're up to speed on that.

Lets talk lateral damage from a rail gun. I live 2 miles outside of DC, about 10 miles from the white house. I understand that everything I know and love will be obliterated from a nuclear attack, but what about a rail gun? I'm trying to picture it in my mind, would it just physically destroy whatever is its target and maybe some surrounding stuff via explosions etc, or are we talking huge cloud of dust that goes barreling out in a circle and wrecks everything withing a 50 mile radius? Picture when Soron 'dies' in the Fellowship of the Ring, but on a more devastating level.

What about even more large scale damage from a rail gun, similar to a large earthquake? Are we looking at severe damage throughout the whole mid-atlantic?
Aug 18 2010 12:07PM
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gregorio
Posts: 2372 - Karma: 151
Click for larger image
Aug 18 2010 12:10PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
You know that scene in Armageddon where the huge asteroid hits Paris?


Think that.
Aug 18 2010 12:12PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
You know that scene in Independance day where the giant alien spaceship goes in and goes "I'MA FIRIN MA LAZARR" all over the white house?


Think that.
Aug 18 2010 12:23PM
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hanksy
Posts: 659 - Karma: 265
Hmm... Thats what I was thinking, and surely the scene causes anxiety, but I just watched that clip, and at the end of the clip the hole is only one or two miles wide. Can we speculate on some numbers here? Is the huge dust cloud explosion that results just going to be more visually stimulating or actually catastrophic? Heres the clip, I only found a french version but the actual meteor strike is around 1:10

Aug 18 2010 12:28PM
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Caspian
Posts: 1475 - Karma: 25
Yeah just without the laser part.
Aug 18 2010 12:29PM
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hoodSlayer
Posts: 900 - Karma: 7

Thats pretty crazy it seems like it would take a huge amount of resources to develop though and I don't see what advantages it would provide over conventional munitions.

Aug 18 2010 12:30PM
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nickyp
Posts: 5673 - Karma: 215
Same way as a bullet train works. The round is magentised, and there are rings of electromagnets in the in the barrel of the gun. The rings of electromagnets fluctuate between positive and negative polarity, which attracts and repels the round. Doing this in quick enough succession accelerates the round. Very similar to the way the Large Hadron Collider works.
Aug 18 2010 12:32PM
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24725 - Karma: 29,944
All I know is, Railguns are the best way to say "get off my lawn"

Period.
Aug 18 2010 12:47PM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
the rail guns that exist thus far would destroy like a house and then some. the whole Rod from God thing in the article i posted earlier would essentially be a nuclear blast without radiation poising, with a 8.0 super concentrated earthquake right after.
Aug 18 2010 12:51PM
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Freshbakedbread
Posts: 949 - Karma: 483
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i1q_rRicAwI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i1q_rRicAwI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

that fire is just from the projectile, its moving so fast that the friction it creates with the air is enough to create a flame/explosion. its like a metior crashing through the earths atmosphere.
Aug 18 2010 12:59PM
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Schlop
Posts: 3640 - Karma: 24
that shit's fucked.. there's no way NASA or really anyone can explain anything in that video and relate it to current technology.
That wasn't a dust particle, it was a large object miles and miles away, and NASA never even tried to explain the streak of light. It's not a shooting star, it CAME FROM THE EARTH.

And the bright globe thing and the 3 relative objects above the lightning storm (which was pretty cool by the way) are either super advanced military vehicles (..this isn't video games I really doubt it), or aliens? ahhhhhhhhhhh mindfuck
Aug 18 2010 1:25PM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
That wouldnt be from a rail gun, but more from the giant tungsten rods fired from space. Which are not rail guns, just really heavy things that go fast because of gravity and are super dense so they dig big holes in the ground.
Aug 18 2010 1:27PM
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theBearJew
Posts: 10951 - Karma: 15,633
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Aug 18 2010 1:28PM
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scratchproteen
Posts: 5173 - Karma: 286
The human race will kill ourselves off before we have a chance to colonize in space. Its all a matter of time I'd say probably 200 - 400 years left.
Aug 18 2010 1:28PM
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Get.Kronk
Posts: 2543 - Karma: 226
I totally already said that.
Aug 18 2010 1:29PM
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