187 replies to this topic

[Moldur]

RedDragon, on 22 June 2015 - 12:25 PM, said:

All that about recoil would be reasonable if a Gauss Rifle actually pushed the projectile forwards. But that's not how Gauss Rifles work. They use magnetic coils to draw the projectile along the barrel. Recoil could only affect the single magnets, and even then, as we mentioned above, it is possible that this recoil would compensate itself because the magnets are aligned around the barrel, thus the opposing magnets would negate the outward force they produce individually.

There will still be recoil. It may be perceivably less than firing a slug of the same size through a conventional rifle because in a gauss rifle, the round is accelerated for the length of the barrel instead of a single instance. Conservation of momentum would dictate that there has to be a force in the opposite direction of the round being fired.

[RedDragon]

Moldur, on 22 June 2015 - 01:42 PM, said:

Conservation of momentum would dictate that there has to be a force in the opposite direction of the round being fired.

Not quite: The force will be exerted in opposition to the force the magnet enacts on the projectile. My knowledge in physics is a bit rusty, so don't ask me where that force will go in detail. But basically, the magnet will pull at the projectile and vice versa. So in theory there would be a recoil, but it can only be as much force as the projectile can work on the individual magnets.
The projectile will exert the same force that propels it forward back onto the gun. But in case of the Gauss Rifle it will only be the force of the projectile, not the force of the exploding propellant a normal gun would get (a lot of which is lost due to gas escaping through the barrel after the shot).
If we can calculate the force the projectile possesses, we know how much force works on the gun. BUT: In case of the GR, this force will be exerted over a certain frame of time since the projectile is accelerated along the whole barrel, unlike a conventional slug, so the recoil would be smaller but longer in time (basically not one big recoil but many small ones following each other). I have to get to bed now, but if we could get some numbers on this, we could try to put it in perspective, would be quite interesting

Edited by RedDragon, 22 June 2015 - 03:36 PM.