Foolish Mortal
12-14-2010, 05:43 PM
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2010/12/the-worlds-most-powerful-supergun.html
A gun the size of a bus has set a new world record, and fired its payload so fast it broke the speed of sound seven times over.
The railgun was fired by the Office of Naval Research in Dahlgen, Virginia, on Friday 10 December and has caused a stir with gadget geeks and sci-fi lovers. In fact, the majority of people who know anything about railguns have probably seen them in sci-fi films or video games.
But Roger Ellis, the railgun program manager, told the Washington Post that unlike the recreations in video games, this is real.
The gun has no moving parts but uses an electromagnetic current to accelerate its bullet. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically-charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds of up to Mach 7, Fox News reports.
When the Office of Naval Research sent 33 megajoules through the gun, they set a new world record, making it the most powerful railgun ever developed, and news website MSNBC even claims the shot was heard around the world.
Next, the navy plans to get the mega-gun onto ships: "The 33-megajoule shot means the Navy can fire projectiles at at least 110 nautical miles, placing sailors and marines at a safe standoff distance and out of harm's way," said Nevin Carr, chief of Naval Research at the Office of Naval Research, which provides science and technology to the US Navy and Marine Corps. "This demonstration moves us one day closer to getting this advanced capability to sea," Nevin said in a press release.
According to the Daily Mail, scientists believe technology will almost double the power of the gun by 2025, "enabling it to send a bullet 200 miles in 6 minutes".
Some even think that railguns might be used in the future to get people into space.
A gun the size of a bus has set a new world record, and fired its payload so fast it broke the speed of sound seven times over.
The railgun was fired by the Office of Naval Research in Dahlgen, Virginia, on Friday 10 December and has caused a stir with gadget geeks and sci-fi lovers. In fact, the majority of people who know anything about railguns have probably seen them in sci-fi films or video games.
But Roger Ellis, the railgun program manager, told the Washington Post that unlike the recreations in video games, this is real.
The gun has no moving parts but uses an electromagnetic current to accelerate its bullet. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically-charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds of up to Mach 7, Fox News reports.
When the Office of Naval Research sent 33 megajoules through the gun, they set a new world record, making it the most powerful railgun ever developed, and news website MSNBC even claims the shot was heard around the world.
Next, the navy plans to get the mega-gun onto ships: "The 33-megajoule shot means the Navy can fire projectiles at at least 110 nautical miles, placing sailors and marines at a safe standoff distance and out of harm's way," said Nevin Carr, chief of Naval Research at the Office of Naval Research, which provides science and technology to the US Navy and Marine Corps. "This demonstration moves us one day closer to getting this advanced capability to sea," Nevin said in a press release.
According to the Daily Mail, scientists believe technology will almost double the power of the gun by 2025, "enabling it to send a bullet 200 miles in 6 minutes".
Some even think that railguns might be used in the future to get people into space.