Earth Space Weaponry

[lethalfang]

They're projectile weapons. However, they do not use chemical propellants (gunpowder). The projectiles are driven into Mach 5 speeds through magnetic induction, much like those rides you see in amusement parks but at a small scale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun

Only Mach 5?
That's SLOW!

[Milleniumlance]

It has always puzzled me why they can mount transport rings in a BC, but they can't tack on Hatak Cannons...

mach 5 is about 4000mph or 1,701.45 meters per second!!!

[OculusMortis]

Thats only bout twice the speed of an Assault rifle round.

[Tarrifist]

No doubt we have direct energy weapons but perhaps...

The materials we used are just not good enough for combat use.

I believe this to be true when you look at NASA today developing ION Drive. One thing thats keeping them for really adding more energy is the materials. They cant handle that much energy...yet. (This is of course that I understand what I read. More energy = Higher temp = greater speed)

[lethalfang]

It has always puzzled me why they can mount transport rings in a BC, but they can't tack on Hatak Cannons...

mach 5 is about 4000mph or 1,701.45 meters per second!!!

You are telling me a space shuttle made in the 1970's by US, managed by NASA and contracted to the lowest bidders, can outrun a rail gun round with plenty of speed to spare?
And you are bringing that thing to fight the ORI?

[jenks]

I thought the railguns fired at mach 5 on earth, wouldn't they be faster in space?

[Bragi]

I thought the railguns fired at mach 5 on earth, wouldn't they be faster in space?

It's relative.

Mach is a ratio of an objects speed vs. the speed of sound. Since you're in space, there is no sound, so technically, you cannot have something travelling at mach speed in outerspace.

The speed of sound at sea level is 760mph, or 330m/s. The thing is, the speed of sound is relative to two major components. One is the composition of the medium gas, and the other is the temperature of the medium gas. As altitude increases, the temperature of the air decreases. Basically, the higher you go, the lower your speed needs to be to actually break the sound barrier until you eventually leave the atmosphere and there is no sound barrier to break.

I hope I did a good job of explaining that.

Someone smarter than me, please set me straight..... because I kinda feel like Jack did when the Ancient repository was in his head.





And who the hell is Weir playin' tonsil hockey with? I just noticed that.

[Milleniumlance]

You are telling me a space shuttle made in the 1970's by US, managed by NASA and contracted to the lowest bidders, can outrun a rail gun round with plenty of speed to spare?
And you are bringing that thing to fight the ORI?

ok good point

[jenks]

It's relative.

Mach is a ratio of an objects speed vs. the speed of sound. Since you're in space, there is no sound, so technically, you cannot have something travelling at mach speed in outerspace.

The speed of sound at sea level is 760mph, or 330m/s. The thing is, the speed of sound is relative to two major components. One is the composition of the medium gas, and the other is the temperature of the medium gas. As altitude increases, the temperature of the air decreases. Basically, the higher you go, the lower your speed needs to be to actually break the sound barrier until you eventually leave the atmosphere and there is no sound barrier to break.

I hope I did a good job of explaining that.

Someone smarter than me, please set me straight..... because I kinda feel like Jack did when the Ancient repository was in his head.





And who the hell is Weir playin' tonsil hockey with? I just noticed that.

Thanks for explaining that, but what I ment was, Because in space there are less forces acting against the projectile in space than on earth, wouldn't it be able to reach greater speeds?

[lethalfang]

Thanks for explaining that, but what I ment was, Because in space there are less forces acting against the projectile in space than on earth, wouldn't it be able to reach greater speeds?

The speed will stay constant, i.e. the speed will not decrease due to the lack of air resistence, but the projectile will never pick up speed.

[NakedJehutyV2]

not rail guns. they're really coil (or guass) guns

[pyrodude]

I thought that when someone(cant remember who) said mach 5 in the Siege Pt 2, They said something like "hit a target at mach 5, 1 mile away" or something similar. This means that mach 5, or 330m/s is not the speed that the round leaves the barrel.

[Major Tyler]

I thought that when someone(cant remember who) said mach 5 in the Siege Pt 2, They said something like "hit a target at mach 5, 1 mile away" or something similar. This means that mach 5, or 330m/s is not the speed that the round leaves the barrel.

Colonel Everett told Ford that the rail guns could fire (or hit a target) at Mach 5 with a range of 200 miles. And yes, they are rail guns. Coil gun barrels are gigantinormous.

[valha'lla]

Colonel Everett told Ford that the rail guns could fire (or hit a target) at Mach 5 with a range of 200 miles. And yes, they are rail guns. Coil gun barrels are gigantinormous.

yeah so we dont know how fast the bullet goes when fired and with sheilding(possibly magnetic) you could over come the friction problems of rail guns by magnitising the sheilding so the projectile runs on the sheilding, meaning no barell damage.

[Milleniumlance]

^^^250 miles