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"Retire? Yeah, I want to die with my head in the typewriter. That's my idea of retirement."
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This is an early fictional use of the idea of a railgun.
Campbell's description of the device in operation from the point of view of the intended victim is dramatic:
Campbell didn't come up with the idea for a gun that accelerates bullets magnetically. The idea seems to be almost as old as the discovery of electromagnetic forces. Although there does not seem to be much in the way of documentation, it appears that the first electric gun was created in 1844. However, given the trouble that has attended recent efforts in creating a working railgun, it seems hard to believe that a prototype capable of firing a stream of bullets could be created with 19th century materials.
Successful prototypes have been built since the 1970's; the severe forces created in use, along with arcing between the projectile and the rails, typically lead to systems that require maintenance between each shot.
Take a look at Overview of electromagnetic guns and the Wiki entry for railgun. Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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