Can a railgun shoot at the speed of light?

Can a railgun shoot at the speed of light?

The electromagnetic railgun has an average effective range of eight kilometres (5 miles) and a maximum range of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), according to Russian state news agency TASS. The railgun shoots out projectiles at almost the speed of light and can hit targets in milliseconds, according to reports.

What is the fastest projectile weapon?

USING an experimental gun about 60 feet long, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have blasted a small projectile to a speed of 10 miles a second, which is thought to be the highest velocity ever reached on earth by any object larger than a speck of dust.

How much energy does a railgun use?

Powering a Railgun Since a joule is equivalent to one watt for one second, that means that for a railgun to shoot a projectile, it needs power equivalent to 25 megawatts for one second.

How fast is a railgun in mph?

Railguns use magnetic fields created by high electrical currents to accelerate a projectile to Mach 6, or 5,400 miles an hour. The velocity is sufficient to give the EMRG an effective range of 110 nautical miles, or 126 miles on land.

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How fast is 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 far can a railgun fire?

The goal is to get the railgun to not only be able to fire its projectiles to a range of 110 nautical miles, but to increase the rate of fire to as many as ten rounds a minute. The long range is only one of the many advantages. Another is improved safety.

What is the velocity of a rail gun?

Rail gun projectiles can achieve velocities of 2000-5000 meters per second. Extreme velocity also generates extreme heat. This thing is a fire begging to happen.

Can a rail gun be used as a gun?

Technically no. Realistically yes. A rail gun accelerates an object using electro magnetism. The limitations comes from the size of the rail used to accelerate the object and the amount of power it can handle.

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Why do rail guns explode?

There is also corrosive ablation of the rails’ material for the same reason. This ablation produces vaporized rail material in a gaseous cloud that can ignite and exit the gun behind the projectile. Rail gun projectiles can achieve velocities of 2000-5000 meters per second. Extreme velocity also generates extreme heat.