[Glamdring]

http://members.optushome.com.au/dbsite1/www.pskovinfo.ru/coilgun/index.htm

[SnWnMe]

Since coil guns will be the next "weapon of choice" of street gangs, California will ban all AA batteries. Walkman sales plummet!

[E357]

The "weapon" is just an electromagnet that pulls a light weight "bullet" or cut-off small nail etc. through a coil at the amazing speed of 100 FPS. Nothing new here.
The whole device is cute, but you can't get any power this way. And since the projectile must be a ferrous (heavy) metal it can't develop any speed and energy. It will remain a toy unless you want to pump about 300,000 amps through those magnets.

Elliot

[Nightcrawler]

Actually, we discussed coil guns/rail guns at length back on TFL and I belive here on the High Road. If an appropriate power source is developed, they could easily be designed to be just as versatile and powerful as modern firearms (and whole lot quieter, to boot).

Of course, that IS the kicker, an appropriate power source. We're still using the same basic battery technology that some ancients cooked up thousands of years ago ( they've actually found ancient batteries).

[E357]

A rail gun works on a completely different principle, the useful AMP range is about 300 - 600 K Amps. And yes I read the past posts and didn't say anything, but I keep see the same mis-information so I put in my $0.02.

Elliot

[M67]

Electromagnetic guns have been around for a couple of hundred years.

I read something, somewhere, about fairly recent experiments where car batteries were used as power source. Several thousand car batteries and more than one million amps. Walkman batteries are probably safe, but look out for legislation concerning large parking lots and jumper cables... :)

[cordex]

A single coil?
HA!
I spit on his accomplishments.

Using staged coils and a longer barrel, he might get some decent results. The problem he'll run into (since he's already solved charging the coil) would be timing.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I bet if bigger batteries were the key to it sales of Honda Insights and Toyota Prius lowriders will skyrocket in urban centers for all the wrong reasons.

Regards,
Rabbit.