How much power does it take to shoot a railgun?

Therefore, typical military railgun designs aim for muzzle velocities in the range of 2,000–3,500 m/s (4,500–7,800 mph; 7,200–12,600 km/h) with muzzle energies of 5–50 megajoules (MJ).

How many volts does a railgun use?

Railguns typically operate above a thousand volts, generating huge currents for a few milliseconds to provide thousands of g’s of acceleration to a small projectile.

How efficient is a railgun?

Typically, the efficiency of converting electrical energy into kinetic energy is between 10\% and 50\% for large scale research guns. These railguns operate from a stored energy source, such as a capacitor, in the range of 400 kJ to 32 MJ. Additionally, analytic equations for efficiency were derived.

Are Railguns more efficient?

However, through analysis of the equations and various difficulties during experimentation with the Gauss Gun, I found that when the launchers are increased in size, the Rail Gun becomes more pragmatically efficient than the Gauss Gun because of physical properties.

Why are Railguns so inefficient?

Problems With Rail Guns Power supply:Generating the power necessary to accelerate rail gun projectiles is a real challenge. Capacitors must store electric charge until a sufficiently large current can be accumulated. Because the currents in a rail gun are so large, the repulsion between the two rails is significant.

Is a coilgun better than a railgun?

A coilgun on the otherhand is the best option because it can be soaked in polymer and fired underwater whereas a railgun can’t cause it needs direct current going through the rails, it has less recoil, lower rate of fire, higher efficiency, but lower velocity…

Can a rail gun fire into space?

No. They would burn up in the dense atmosphere. Orbital velocity is somewhere around 17,500 mph. To get an object into space, you would need to get several times that in initial velocity.

How do you make a railgun?

Putting these two ideas together, you can make a railgun. The device is simple in design. You have two parallel rails (thus called a railgun) and a moveable projectile that is also like a wire. An electric current goes down one wire, across the projectile and then back down the other rail.

Is it possible to get a railgun with 1000 Amps?

Yes, that might do it. Really, the only way to get that high of a current is with some type of capacitor bank that can be discharged very quickly. But wait! If I have 1000 amps in the rails, won’t the rails also push on each other? Yes. Like I said, I’m not going to build a demonstration version of a railgun. Build your own railgun.

What is an electromagnetic rail gun?

It’s essentially a handheld electromagnetic rail gun capable of ” accelerating any ferromagnetic projectile (under 1/2″ in diameter) to 200+ fps, and can deliver up to 75 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.”

Can railguns be used as military weapons?

Railgun velocities generally fall within the range of those achievable by two-stage light-gas guns; however, the latter are generally only considered to be suitable for laboratory use, while railguns are judged to offer some potential prospects for development as military weapons.