Railgun | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-05-06

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun


00:02:49 1 Basics
00:08:37 2 History
00:13:06 3 Design
00:13:15 3.1 Theory
00:16:38 3.2 Mathematical formula
00:36:13 3.3 Design considerations
00:37:47 3.4 Materials used
00:38:55 3.5 Heat dissipation
00:39:59 4 Applications
00:40:21 4.1 Launch or launch assist of spacecraft
00:43:28 4.2 Weaponry
00:50:11 4.3 Helical railgun
00:51:27 4.4 Plasma railgun
00:53:02 5 Tests
00:55:23 5.1 United States Armed Forces
00:56:17 5.1.1 Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
01:05:30 5.1.2 Army Research Laboratory
01:07:42 5.2 People's Republic of China
01:08:52 6 Issues
01:09:01 6.1 Major difficulties
01:12:22 6.2 Trigger for inertial confinement fusion



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SUMMARY
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A railgun is a device that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles, by means of a sliding armature that is accelerated along a pair of conductive rails. It is typically constructed as a weapon, and the projectile normally does not contain explosives, instead relying on the projectile's high speed to inflict damage. The railgun uses a pair of parallel conductors - 'rails' - along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. It is based on principles similar to those of the homopolar motor.As of 2018, railguns have been researched as weapons utilising electromagnetic forces to impart a very high kinetic energy to a projectile (e.g. APFSDS) rather than using conventional propellants. While explosive-powered military guns cannot readily achieve a muzzle velocity of more than ~2 km/s, railguns can readily exceed 3 km/s. For a similar projectile, the range of railguns may exceed that of conventional guns. The destructive force of a projectile depends on its kinetic energy at the point of impact and due to the potentially high velocity of a railgun-launched projectile, their destructive force may be much greater than conventionally launched projectiles of the same size. The absence of explosive propellants or warheads to store and handle, as well as the low cost of projectiles compared to conventional weaponry, come as additional advantages.Not withstanding the above advantages, railguns are still very much at the research stage, and it remains to be seen whether or not railguns will ever be deployed as practical military weapons. Any trade-off analysis between electromagnetic (EM) propulsion systems and chemical propellants for weapons applications must also factor in the novelty and complexity of the pulsed power supplies that are needed for electromagnetic launcher systems.
In addition to military applications, NASA has proposed to use a railgun to launch "wedge-shaped aircraft with scramjets" to high-altitude at Mach 10, where they will then fire a small payload into orbit using conventional rocket propulsion. The extreme g-forces involved with direct railgun ground-launch to space may restrict the usage to only the sturdiest of payloads. Alternatively, very long rail systems may be used to reduce the required launch acceleration.