railgun project

These are the animations i made in GMax for the presentation of my railgun project, i figured i might as well show them off here.

It starts with a representation of a magnetic field around a wire, a demonstration of the Lorentz effect, and how a railgun combines these to propel a projectile (the + and - minus are switched, sorry). The magnetic field is represented by a green arrow, the direction of current is blue, and force is red.
The next animation shows how the rails are also forced apart by the Lorentz force.
Next i explain how i built the railgun, the injector system, and the capacitor bank.
after that i show some cool photos and videos of tests, as well as some results of the experiment (the green round thing is a simulation of the magnetic field around the rails).
The last part shows images of the rails after more or less 10 shots, there is some rail erosion, but it is very limited because of the low voltage and it only affects the first few centimeters of the rails. I dont know for sure what the black stuff is, it could either be aluminium oxide from the plasma, of soot from the burnt plexiglass enclosure.

Some more interesting results:
-the length of the discharge is 0.0002 seconds
-the average plasma exaust velocity is 1000 m/s
-the projectile experiences an initial force of approximately 100N
-the projectile weighs 40µg
-this means that the projectile accelerates at 2500000m/s²
-the song is called Buddha Bar by Faithless

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• railgun
• 3dmax
• rail
• gun
• theory
• electricity
• magnetism
• esss
• 2006
• esssk
• shoot
• bang
• spark
• loud
• diy
• greagol
• Doe-het-zelf
• Mechanica
• Lucht-
• en
• ruimtevaart

[DrGreTuLR]

the capacitors are the most expensive part here, as for the other hardware you can make one for under 30€. The rails are just steel, and the enclosure is three layers of 5mm perspex.

[wookie0]

Do you have pdf for this design?

[DrGreTuLR]

@wookie0

No, but i figure the design is simple enough to copy from the animations.

[viperlvr1987]

@DrGreTuLR For your calculations did you use the Lorentz effect when determining the railgun rail length and the size of the magnetic field size? I am an engineer in the state of PA and after watching this video I had some free time in which I built a functional rail gun I am eager to share my data with you, perhaps you may shed some light on material spec as I am only able to fire my railgun a total of 6 times before the arc welding destroys the armatures and the circuit is broken.

[art1card]

You can sell it to the Chinese or Indians !!! and make millions

[Fl3mOn80r]

will it blend?

[rocksparadox]

@DrGreTuLR You mean the THEORETICAL acceleration is 100 N/ (4*10^-5 grams)=2500000 m/s^2

ignoring friction on the rail and maybe more importantly once exiting the accelerator, aerodynamic effects which have a greater influence considering the low weight of the projectile and the relatively high speed.

[TheWingait]

Hey, im wanting to do this for a science fair project at school, if yu can, let me kno all the materials and the cost, I REALLY would appreciate it, thanks.

[Jordonx8]

try making 1 that can destroy a tank

[dasraiser]

if you put an insulator on the inner rails, you could construct a carriage that runs on top and the bottom that conducts the current, not sure if this would work but may save your rails, if the only thing to burn up is the brushes.

[shadowOrgon]

@evoldevildogs you dont know much about railguns do you :P ?

railguns use electricity to create a magnetic field in the rails which pulls the projectile forward, but the insane high current between the projectile and rails causes an arcing effect (mini lighting) which vaporizes parts of the rail and projectile 

[bus5000]

Why do people insist on using stupid music when showing stuff on youtube? No one cares about the music you like. We came to see what you had to show about rail guns. It would have been nice if you spoke during the video explaining what you were showing.

[evoldevildogs]

if it used magnetism for power how did it generate enough heat to burn that metal

[diecoms]

@DrGreTuLR HI what was those things which u connect the wares(transistors ?) where are the object what will be launched?thank