Posted on 01/31/2008 12:59:13 PM PST by Froufrou
One megajoule is one megawatt of power expended over a one second time period. Since I'm fairly sure that the firing energy is applied over a much shorter time, the peak power is probably in the range of hundreds of megawatts.
Except for the silently part, this is what is does.
The electrical discharge and air displacement from a piece of metal moving at Mach 7 (not to mention the sonic boom) are bound to be impressive. Kinda of like the noise you hear when a bolt of lightning hits a tree 50 feet away from you...
It fires a hunk of metal at very high velocity. A current naval gun fires an explosive shell using combustible propellant. A rail gun fires an inert round using electromagnets to accelerate the round down the “barrel”. While the round doesn’t contain explosives, it is going so fast that when it stops (hits) something there is A LOT of energy released in the target.
“If I remember my math correctly it’s about 14 kilotons per gram of antimatter. (That might be low by a factor of 2, but not further off).”
By E = mc2, when 1 kilogram of antimatter annihilates with 1 kilogram of matter the reaction produces 1.8×1017 J, which is equal to 42.96 Mt
A 150mm shell comes in at 50kg.
Assume you get about 1/10 to actually blow up before dispersal, and 1/2 of the mass would be the corresponding matter to match the antimatter.
(.1)(.5)(50)(42.96) = 106.725 megatons
Or roughly 7115 Nagaski bombs (may have slipped a decimal there — 711.5)
Hell, screw rail guns, let’s figure out how to make anti-matter in larger amounts and try one in Tehran.
Two cereal box tops plus cash or money order for $25 billion mailed to POB 1001, Battle Creek, MI. Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery.
“Leftists would get upset about “polluting the sun””
Yeah, it might end up radioactive.
My wife converted my megajewels to megawhat’s a long time ago.
Ergo one megajoule is one megawatt/second
But can slim pickens ride a rail gun round?
It’s still working for me.
Fox has it up on their main front page- try going thru there. http://www.foxnews.com
I’ll photobucket some of the pics and add them to the thread when I get home.
bump
“Even though I am just another dumb blond, it seems perfectly feasible to me that this can and will happen. I would dare hope it could make nuclear warheads obsolete.”
This weapon is to replace weapons that we use.
Nuclear weapons are made to keep someone else from using them, completely different purpose.
Doesn’t a hunk of metal become molten at those conditions?
I’d think it would be unable stay a solid?
That's the slug leaving the barrel. The cloud is described as ignited debris particles.
It’s better than that. At that speed the marshmallow will self roast and be ready for eating when it arrives! lol
Setting up those over-the-shoulder shots is tricky - here's the control panel:
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