Liquid Metal
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Posted - 2005.10.19 12:12:00 -
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Edited by: Liquid Metal on 19/10/2005 12:17:36
Edited by: Liquid Metal on 19/10/2005 12:13:13
 Originally by: vanBuskirk
OK, here goes. The description of railguns in the various weapon info sheets involves "projectiles travelling at hypersonic speed". Quite apart from the fact that the term "hypersonic" makes no sense where there is no sound, in space, this doesn't read right to me.
Why? Simply because most fictional descriptions of railguns describe projectiles travelling a good deal faster than hypersonic. Even real-world experimental railguns (or coilguns, which is a more accurate description) can get up to about 200 km/sec, which is way outside the range usually called hypersonic.
My proposal is simply to reduce the calibre of all railguns by a factor of 10-20, and alter the descriptions of the guns to mention the high velocity. I really don't know what the term is for things travelling at these greater than cometary speeds; "relativistic" is overstating it.
This wouldn't really change anything about railguns that would really matter, except maybe ammo weight and volume, and maybe I am just being an SF geek, but in my opinion this would fit in better than the current descriptions to an SF game.
Why change the described weapon calibres? Simple - believability. Example: 425mm round, presumably a rough cylinder and about twice as long - you do the maths, but it sounds like about a cubic metre - of something about as dense as iron at the very least, for lead ammo. Which is around about 9-10 tonnes. Travelling at 200-300 km/sec, this is a city-buster, not just an anti-ship weapon.
(Maybe this is the reason we aren't allowed too near planets? )
In any event, a 100-kg projectile sounds much more reasonable to me, for an ultravelocity railgun.
Comments?
Youve got a little mixed up with the weapon weight, the charges, are a shell containing a plasma from lead. Since the Lead plasma, will expand, and become like a super hot vapour when heated that much, it will take up more volume, since it has more energy, and ultimately less mass. So the Charges will be a lot lighter. (Putting aside the fact that Space is weightless.)
And by terms of hypersonic speed, i dont know, maybe the charge is that heavy that it doesnt go 200km/s but less than that. Eitherway, regarding 200km/s Anything that can break the sound barrier several times, (in atmosphere) is regarded as hypersonic.
To clarify, a railgun, is typically a metal slug, (magnetically active, say steel or cobalt). Which is accelerated by a coil. A hybrid charge, is that metal slug, bored out, and with a little containment field technology (accodring to eve) contains a superheated plasma, to whoopaa enemy ships with, using the rail as a firing platform.
"A strong man stands tall against all others, everything else is just a delusion for the weak.."
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