2 ms·
"[A] railgun offers 2 to 3 times the velocity of a conventional big gun, so that it can hit its target within 6 minutes." I'd expect that most projectiles deca
by pingswept 16y ago
"[A] railgun offers 2 to 3 times the velocity of a conventional big gun, so that it can hit its target within 6 minutes."
I'd expect that most projectiles decay exponentially toward a terminal velocity, so the impact of shooting a bullet faster is negligible when it's going to be in flight for 6 minutes. Anyone know whether that's true for long range projectile weapons these days?
- cperciva 16y agoRailgun ammunition is designed to lose as little kinetic energy as possible. After all, there's no point hitting someone with a non-explosive projectile unless it's moving fast.
- pingswept 16y agoThis suggests that the terminal velocity of a rail gun projectile is around Mach 5: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/systems/emrg.htm http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/systems/... I guess I can spend my time worrying about other things!