Fun With Electromagnetic Energy

The Navy thinks they’re going to put this on the deck of a ship? Damn thing looks like it would cause rolling brownouts in Los Angeles.

Navy Sets World Record With Incredible, Sci-Fi Weapon

An electromagnetic railgun offers a velocity previously unattainable in a conventional weapon, speeds that are incredibly powerful on their own. In fact, since the projectile doesn’t have any explosives itself, it relies upon that kinetic energy to do damage. And at 11 a.m. today, the Navy produced a 33-megajoule firing — more than three times the previous record set by the Navy in 2008.

“It bursts radially, but it’s hard to quantify,” said Roger Ellis, electromagnetic railgun program manager with the Office of Naval Research. To convey a sense of just how much damage, Ellis told FoxNews.com that the big guns on the deck of a warship are measured by their muzzle energy in megajoules. A single megajoule is roughly equivalent to a 1-ton car traveling at 100 mph. Multiple that by 33 and you get a picture of what would happen when such a weapon hits a target.

See also:
Railgun, futuristic weapon, tested by Navy
Railgun shot heard round the world
U.S. Navy Railgun breaks speed records
Futuristic Railgun Weapon Sets US Navy Record [VIDEO]
Railgun shots break record
Railgun moves closer to real use
Navy’s Mach 7 gun can kill from 100 miles away
Navy test fires electromagnetic cannon
Navy: Dahlgren Railgun test is successful
Navy railgun: weapon from hell or game changer? – photo gallery and video
Electromagnetic Railgun Program – Office of Naval Research
Railgun

To make this technology even remotely practical for use at sea, the Navy’s going to have to make the railgun a lot smaller and more energy efficient.

/oh, and they’re going to have to figure out a way to keep the gun rails from melting every time they fire it