| lwcamp |
11-13-2013 09:39 AM |
Re: Anime: Railgun
Quote:
Originally Posted by TroyGuffey
(Post 1677791)
First, is this actually possible (using tech, of course) firing projectiles just through manipulation of electric fields?
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In principle it can be done. An electric field will pull the charges in an object that it is attracted to closer to it, and push the charges it is not attracted to farther away (called polarization). If the field is not uniform across the object, this leads to unballanced forces (for example, the field from a point charge falls off with distance, so the charges it is attracted to are pulled closer, where the field is stronger, and the charges that it repells are pushed away where the field is weaker, so the field pulls the object toward it). This effect is sometimes noticable (as when you can get an empty aluminum can to roll toward a statically charged plastic wand), but is not usually used to get high speed projectiles.
Propulsion is more straightforward if you have a projectile-to-be that is charged, but maintaining a high charge on an object can be problematic.
Modern tech uses either magnetic fields (coilguns) or a combination of electric and magnetic fields (railguns) for propulsion.
Luke
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