jace silencerww wrote:Xocoyol Zaraoul wrote:As an Electrical Engineer, I disagree with your premise that you can magically accelerate something with no consequences. Not only will you have recoil from the projectile being pushed forward as the basic laws dictate, but you'll also also have to deal with the consequences of internal pressure on the rails themselves pushing at one another.
There are three rails, two parallel and the required third rail nestled between the two in an orthogonal configuration, all of which will exhibit recoil.
Stop reading/watching bad science fiction
really? lol study up then. the rail guns use the same thing as the bullet trains. the "bullet" more like a bullet shaped piece of metal, is pulled forward "not pushed" by the electro magnets at very high speed with very little effect on the gun. no gun powder to create recoil. so no internal pressure.
Hey look, an easy to read document:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun.htm"Repulsion: The current in each rail of a rail gun runs in opposite directions.
This creates a repulsive force, proportional to the current, that attempts to push the rails apart. Because the currents in a rail gun are so large,
the repulsion between the two rails is significant."
"
It would be more difficult to engineer small arm rail guns, mainly because of recoil. Recoil, the backward action of a firearm upon discharge, is determined by the momentum of the escaping projectile. Multiplying a projectile's mass by its velocity yields its momentum, which for high-velocity rail gun projectiles would be considerable. A portable rail gun that fires very small bullets may be the solution. A small bullet would limit recoil but still carry enough kinetic energy to inflict serious damage."
Cannons have recoil, Catapults have recoil, lasers have recoil (Though admittedly rediculously small, every laser is pushing itself backwards, exerting a pressure on the target, and trying to spin every lens it goes through), bows have recoil and are a great example you can try out yourself that have no gunpower as you will feel the bow pushing against your arm back towards your body as you release the draw.
There is no such thing as a free lunch in physics. You can push, or pull, and it will have consequences.
Before this goes on any further, please provide a reasonable document explaining how a railgun would not have recoil nor exert substantial internal forces on itself creating mechanical and material stresses/pressure/repulsion/call-it-what-you-want, or citations on how to launch anything without recoil.Thank you for your time.