Introduction: The rail gun is an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher composed of a pair of parallel conducting rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current flowing down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. The rail gun was created in 1918 by a French inventor, Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee. His original design consisted of two parallel busbars connected by the wings of a projectile, and surrounding the whole apparatus with a magnetic field thus allowing it to propel a projectile into flight which very similar to the design of modern day rail guns.
Science:
In order for the rail gun to successfully operate it requires a power supply, simply a source of electric current, rails, length of conductive metal (ie copper), and an armature which bridges the gap between rails and may be composed of a conductive metal like the rails or a conductive sabot. All of these parts work together
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They are used in the military as an alternative for large artillery due to their ease of use, transport, less susceptible to bullet drop, wind shift and can be guided by satellite. They have also been proposed as important components of “The Strategic Defense Initiative” often referred to as Star Wars. These rail guns would be able to fire projectiles to intercept incoming missiles, and other forms of projectiles. It has also been proposed that these rail guns would be able to protect Earth from asteroids, when fired at the asteroids would either be destroyed on impact or would experience a change in trajectory. Rail guns have some potential non-military applications in society as well, such as the potential to launch satellites or space shuttles or to initial fusion reactions. Although some applications of the rail gun are still only theoretical they have shown to be quite promising and should be used in the coming
Union soldiers mainly used this weapon for the improved accuracy and distance of the shot. According to author Francis Lord, in his book Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia: Arms, Uniforms and Equipment of the Union and Confederacy, this weapon saw action in every battle of the Civil War. The soldiers proclaimed the Model 1861 as a “dependable masterpiece.” 3
During the years leading up to and during the American Civil War there were a number of advancements in firearms technology. This paper will focus on a few of those advancements, namely the inventions of the Minié ball, the Spencer and Henry repeating rifles, and of the Gatling gun.
To his credit he came up with the famous 1862-model Revolving Battery Gun, that is now referred to as the Gatling gun. The 1862-model was one of the first reliable Revolving guns, but still had a few problems that needed to be fixed. Richard was not the first to manufacture a multi-fire weapon, but his was the first multi-fire gun used in war because of its fast, rapid fire, and ease to use. Major General Ben F. Butler purchased 12, 1862-model gatling guns for $1000 each and used them successfully at the battle of Petersburg in 1863. In 1865 Gatling's improved model, the 1865-gun was tested by the Ordnance Department. One of the changes between the improved Gatling gun and the old one, was that the new
Melton, Jack W. and Lawrence E. Pawl. “Basic Facts Concerning Artillery.” Civil War Artillery. 2009. 17 January 2010. .
A majority of weapons used in World War II were improved weapons from World War II. Most guns increased in power and abilities. In World War II people thought that pistols were useless but this was proved wrong due to the fact that the U.S. Mi...
Early gunsmiths used techniques much like blacksmiths and watchmakers. Hand forging barrels,hammers and other parts one at a time as they needed them and hand carving stocks. Some of these were works of art and took months or years to produce. As technology advanced and new machines were introduced it allowed gunsmiths to greatly improve their output. When it was first developed it could take weeks of work for a decent gunsmith to rifle a barrel, but with the invention of the electric lathe it became much easier. Now in modern times with CNC or Computer Controlled Numerical milling machines make receivers for rifles such as the AR-15 and handguns like the M1911 produce thousands in a single day. Many gunsmiths specialize in building AR-15s and accurizing various handguns for competition shooting. Building an AR-15 is quite simple, it could be compared to a lincoln logs set or a kit bike. After acquiring the various parts assembly should only take a few hours. Building and accurizing handguns is an art. To achieve maximum accuracy the rails between the frame and slide must be polished, the point where the hammer and trigger meet filed so it is smooth and without grit or creep. A well worked trigger is compared to a glass rod braking. Solid weight as soon as pressure is applied without any dead
The definition of grit is simple; it means being passionate about long term goals, and showing stamina to pursue them, but should students in public schools have a class dedicated to a grit-focused curriculum? This has become a major topic of discussion among teachers and mentors. Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, claims grit is not a fixed quality but one that can be developed. Many disagree with her statement. Grit is something everyone all have within themselves, but some just do not utilize this characteristic as often or as well as others. Grit is a puzzling concept. Duckworth has had an obsession with grit for over a decade. Her obsession started when she visited West Point,
War has been a recurring part of America’s history for the past hundreds of years. From the 1700s to the present, America has gotten into numerous situations and turmoil, which eventually lead to the wars we currently study and know about today. Technological advancements in warfare were necessary and a great obligation during times of war. This was pursued with drastic improvement. From the transformation of the use of smoothbore muskets during the Civil War to the industrial revolution leading to weaponry innovations post civil war, the nature of warfare dramatically changed. These developments proved to be proficient in battle. In the midst of these hundreds of years, while many technological advances demonstrated to be efficient in battle, the machine gun was one of the most significant advancements in technology that changed the face of warfare through its transformation of operations and strategy.
Now to talk about the technology for infantry; There are five main rifles that are used for infantry. The SCAR-light, XM-25, SAR 21, Corner shot launcher, and the FMG9 Folding Machine Gun. The S...
The first guns used in America were a simple machine where the person did most of the work. The user measured and put the powder down the barrel of the gun. Next some shotgun pellets were put in the same way. This was then all compacted and the gun was ready to fire. This reloading took over a minute before each shot could be fired and the guns weren't very accurate by today's standards. If too much powder was used then the gun could explode or if the powder were wet then the gun wouldn't fire. One of inventions during the Revolutionary War was a way to reload faster. The powder was already pre-measured and kept in little sacks. This made reloading faster because the user no longer had to measure the powder between each reloading. These guns were crude but in that day was a powerful modern invention that was considered very useful. The American Revolution was a political war to obtain what the people of that era wanted. By today's standards the destruction of gun was minimal so war was used to obtain political objectives.
These kinds of weapons were impractical for military use, but attracted many people to the arms race for weapons that could sweep the battlefield. “They had limitations in practice, among them slow re...
Have you ever had to make a decision in your life? I’m pretty sure we all have, the decision can even be what you ate for breakfast in the morning. Robert Frost wrote a poem about a man who has to make an important decision. In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost, he states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” (Woods). To me taking the road less traveled by means, doing something on your own. It means not following a crowd, it means doing something unique. It can be hard to go your own way, but that is what Robert Frost is talking about. Everybody should go the path is right for them, not the one that many other people have gone down. There are many examples of people taking the unexpected path, I have gone through a path many people have never seen before, so have
What makes a good person good? According to WikiHow, "We should learn to define our own morals ourselves. One of the simplest ways to do so is to love others, and treat them as you would like to be treated. Try to think of others before yourself. Even doing small things daily will greatly enrich and improve your life, and the lives of others around you." This quote shows us what we need to do in order to be what society thinks as, “good". In order to be a good person, you have to do good and moral things in your society consistently. However people might think that by doing one good thing once in a while will automatically make you a “good person”, but in reality it doesn’t.
Useful for the military, projectile motion can now be used for a number of weapons; which is when an object (like a bullet or cannon) is thrown-projected- and mov...