A proof of principle railgun 1 uses a high current to force a conductor outwards. A railgun is a method of converting electrical power into kinetic energy of a metal projectile. “Continue reading” for more details.
The fastest projectiles known used magnetic propulsion to achieve speeds of many km/s (record of 12 miles/s (20 km/s) by Sandia Labs) and efficiencies up to 30%. The principle is simple – pump 1,000,000 amps or so down 2 parallel conductors joined by the movable conductive projectile. Lorenz magnetic forces down the 1 wire ‘coil’ push the projectile forward.
The power of the basic railgun 1 setup (above) is really is a bit low for a railgun due to startup friction and I was rather surprised that it worked at all. Adding a magnetic field helps using magnets from a magnetron out of a microwave oven. I have a couple of more powerful 1 inch (2.5 cm) Neodymium Iron Boron N40 grade magnets which will be interesting to try in this set-up. This is run in series with the unloaded coilgun coil to limit peak current. At best a thin springy copper wire travelling along the centre of the copper bars will penetrate paper at 3 feet with a big flash and bang. Not really rocket science yet.
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Railgun 2Try something else
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Photo Date: 2004