The Scientific Principle Of The Railgun

Let's take a look at the scientific principles behind how railguns work.

Thank you for watching this video.

#military #weapons #railgun #mscope

[kino_]

0:20

This is a coil gun ([not a] Gauss cannon), it's very different because it uses the single force vector created by the coil you'll show later in the video. It's easy: if it has wire going around the barrel it's a coil gun, if it has wire on the back only, and a hollow rectangular barrel section (formed by the rails and the bullet containment) it's a rail gun

[fredsmith]

forgot to mention the barrel quickly tears it's self apart and you cant use it repeatedly without changing the barrel internals ?

[Omario]

In 00:30 the gun shown is a Gauss gun aka coil gun not a rail gun. Its a completely different system, gauss gun uses a series of electromagnetic coils that activate in a syncronize order do propel the projectile. In a rail gun the projectile completes the circuit in between two rails, one rail being + and the other being - and the positive rail is fed by capacitors. This generates a huge magnetic force that pushes the projectile. Two completely different systems.

[eliasmedina]

Thanks to this I now have some ideas for sci-fi railguns for a story I'm making.

[xl]

Cool. I found one on craigslist and I wasn’t sure what it was

[Graywolf]

I wonder if we'll see more of the coilgun start to overtake railgun interest. IMO the main issue of the coilgun (synchronized switching and stabilizing the round in the magnetic field) is a *lot* easier to overcome than the rail ablation issue in railguns. Apparently the Chinese Navy has gone down the coilgun route and is test-fielding a naval gun? Research follows funding, so I guess we'll find out once the check-writers recover from the failure of the US Navy's railgun program.

[gabedarrett]

2:30 This could easily be improved by using an electromagnet to establish an external magnetic field acting on the projectile

[PONTIANGOD]

How do railguns taken consider curvature of Earth when you do your your math where's the to go when it doesn't account for

[mxcollin]

From my research, they haven’t been able to create a rail gun that doesn’t tear it’s self apart after shooting just a handful of rounds. That’s why it was created awhile ago but is still not in service.

[malcolmliang]

Certainly a certain scientific railgun

[hackmedia]

Rail Gun and Gauss Gun are two completely different types.
Rail gun uses high voltage and two rails, with the projectile being conductive.
Gauss gun uses magnetism to pull the projectile through the center of each coil.

[meverick]

the picture from around 00:17 to 00:25 shows a gauss gun not a rail gun... just saying

[michaelfoye]

Looks like the guy in the video doing the pointing, the guy with three arms, needs a bit more time in the cloning tanks. He doesn't appear to be quite done.

[nillchen]

25 MW are only needed for a brief time (during acceleration) and can be provided by large capacitors.

[Recoverys]

I'm fascinated with the idea of railguns. Not just in sector of warfare but multiple other applications such as launching rockets for space exploration or like powering trains using railguns so it can get to it's destination faster

[mzamroni]

It should have 2 separate adjacent barrels.
1 barrel for the projectile and 1 barrel for linear motor, so that heat from linear motor barrel doesn't affect projectile and its barrel.

Both barrel has lateral opening.
Linear motor pushes metal that has leg in projectile barrel to propel the projectile.
This will be fine as there is no explosive propulsion in projectile barrel.

Projectile barrel can have holes to dissipate friction heat

[aamiddel]

Railgun uses 25MW as much as a lot of households uses.. Yeah in a split second.
And the principle used in the past was different then used today. In the past they used coils, now rails. Only the magnetism is the same as being the propellant force.. So..

[ianschuring]

''the power equivalent of 20, 000 households" in one moment? an hour? a day?

[dominus]

I would like to know more about the rail gun project from Germany, does anyone know the name of the project?

[Jasmohan]

Batteries are the main limiting factor as always