US Navy Electromagnetic Railgun Cannon - Their Most Powerful Cannon
Why Worldbuilding Stack Exchange recommends it
Worldbuilding Stack Exchange users link it as visual evidence of what hypervelocity kinetic projectiles do on impact, such as bright flashes and plasma-cutter-like damage, when discussing railguns and kinetic strike weapons.
Recommended by 1 people across 1 different months, 2015 to 2022.
What it is
A short explainer about the US Navy's electromagnetic railgun, a 32 megajoule launcher developed with General Atomics and BAE Systems. It covers the claimed range of about 100 nautical miles, Mach 7.5 launch speed, and the use of pure kinetic energy instead of explosive warheads, with Navy footage of firings and impacts.
What people said
Recommends Joe Bloggs · 2021-05 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Are railguns in space intended to be something that causes massive kinetic damage upon collision? Why wouldn't a railgun shot go right through?”
@GrumpyYoungMan: The question is whether it will act like a plasma cutter (I suspect it would, given the timescales involved) or a flamethrower. This video [this video] is an impact at the lower end of the hypervelocity scale (2.5km/s), but the multiple impact part at 2:00 seems to back up the plasma cutter idea.
Cites Jim2B · 2015-10 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “What are the advantages of a coilgun v.s. a railgun?”
In short (links to follow as I find time to put them in). Coil guns (aka Gauss guns) Have a higher max projectile velocity. Powerful switches alternate the electromagnetic poles in the drive coils as the projectile passes through the coils. This requires high voltage, high amperage, high speed electrical switches. Researchers have been trying to build these for decades with only moderate success. is a type of projectile accelerator consisting of one or more coils used as electromagnets in the configuration of a linear motor that accelerate a ferromagnetic or conducting projectile to high velocity. 1 [LINK] In almost all coilgun configurations, the coils and the gun barrel are arranged on a c
Cites Water · 2021-05 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Are railguns in space intended to be something that causes massive kinetic damage upon collision? Why wouldn't a railgun shot go right through?”
Using the search engine here and on Google is not leading me to any answers. Assume no shields here or any unobtanium technologies. What happens upon impact of a projectile fired out of a railgun against a ship in space? I am not sure of the physics behind it. If a projectile smashes into a surface at a very high velocity, wouldn't it pierce through? Shows make it seem like getting hit with a railgun shot will screw you up a lot harder than flooding you with a sea of bullets. However this seems to imply if you get pelted with a railgun, the force of impact will somehow disperse throughout the ship. I could see it being a major problem if it strikes critical onboard equipment (ex: a reactor),
Cites jdunlop · 2022-05 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Would the "Rods from God" satellite actually create an explosion?”
With enough kinetic energy, the explosion will not be "dark". As a practical example: [this video] No chemical explosives. Just a chunk of metal. The impacts are _very_ bright.