Hi. I'm gonna make a rail gun, which is not the coil gun i made a while back.
It's gonna be /epic/, have you seen the rail gun made by the US military?
/Clank/
/Poom/
/Haroomph/
The bullet is going at the /speed of light/ divided by 150,000 or over six times the speed of sound
According to internet the circuit is very simple.
Basically you have two copper rails that are tied to the power lines
and the projectile is just a piece of wire that shorts the two rails and jumps forward.
Let me demonstrate.
I plug it in and now the rails are live. So under no circumstances you should touch the rails!
Now I put the projectile on...
*Loud Pop and Bang*
████ ██ █ ████
Shame. See the projectile is conductive so touching the rails with it is like touching live wires.
Let's not do live AC wires.
Anyways. The concept is quite simple.
You have two rails that you connect to a supply - DC or AC
and your projectile shorts between the two rails and jumps forward due to magnetic fields
To understand how it works you need to know two right-hand-rules
The first one is quite simple.
Using your right hand if thumb shows the direction of the current in the wire
other fingers show the direction of magnetic field around the wire
The second rule is a little bit harder to remember. But remember this rule!
And you shall not be a dummy again!
[Cue Music]
♫ The middle finger is for B-Field ♫
♫ The thumb is reserved for a force ♫
♫ The index finger is for /current/ ♫
♫ You hold those fingers in this pose ♫
♫ If two fingers match their vectors ♫
♫ You'll know where the third one goes ♫
[Abrupt End]
Umm... Uh
I guess you won't forget that anytime soon.
So we have two rails and the projectile is shorting them.
Imagine the positive of the supply is here and the current is running in a loop like that
Using the first rule we know that the direction of the magnetic field between the rails is pointing upwards.
Using the second rule the direction of the current in projectile is that way
the field is pointing up so the force is pointing that way and the projectile moves like that
Now if we flip the direction of the current the direction of the field also flips
which means that the force is still pointing the same way.
So the projectile is always going out of the loop.
Thats why it also works with AC.
Let's use my ten amp power supply.
It welds itself to the rails and doesn't move...
Let's also use my supercapacitors that can deliver hundreds of amps.
*Pop*
███ █
Well a few things melted, my projectile just welded itself to the rails and stuck.
I think I need a material that doesn't get stuck and can move forward.
I originally wanted to use lead pellets used in air guns.
Lead melts easily and can move forward
but then I realized that the lead is also quite poisonous.
If you shoot somebody with lead pellets you don't just physically hurt them
you make them dumb. And a dumb person is more dangerous than any bullet.
Oh honey I am absolutely sickened and disgusted by the amount of discrimination,
Abuse and racism in the world.
(Oh it's okay hun. Here, have some lead pellets.)
Oh lead pellets? Great! I love lead pellets.
[Eating Sounds]
I know how to fix the world.
Let's do it!
I'm going to build a wall around china.
(There's already a wall around china.)
Shut up you Mexican Muslim communist. I'm gonna build a wall around you and everybody that looks like you.
[Applause]
Lead poisoning for everyone!
[More Applause]
Anyways. I discovered graphite. It doesn't melt at all and can pass huge currents through it.
This is a carbon rod from a double A carbon-zinc battery and I'm gonna use my super caps for super power.
Let's measure the current, too.
[Crackling Noise]
Huh. It's not making a good contact...
████ █ ███
This is bull████. It's as if the internet is wrong.
I was running 313 amps through it and it didn't even move.
How much current do I need? A bazillion amps for it to move a tinsy bit?
My stupid DC fan can cut your finger running on half an amp!
I bet the government is hiding the technology from us again.
I think the rails generate a small magnetic field at the projectile.
What's the point of relying on that when I can have strong magnets around my rails?
I'm taping some magnets to the table and I'll put my rails on it.
I use my ten amp power supply.
Look at that! It moved! It moved!
I made it! I have the technology now. I can beef it up.
[Evil Laugh, Evil Screech Sound]
Look at it go!
Now with the fixed field from the magnets if you change the direction of the current
the direction of the force also changes.
Weeeee!
Zooom!
Yaaaay!
In your face government! You can't touch me. I'm in Canada.
Bleh! I didn't even make it lethal.
(Well hello my habibi)
Shut up!