Why are railguns thermic and not kinetic?

Crimson Kaim

Crimson Kaim
What the title says. AFAIK railguns accelerate a projectile (therefore kinetic) to a very high velocit up to 15 km/s if I am correct (atmosphere).

However, in Elite railguns are thermic weapons so they are a laser? I am confused, may someone explain this to me, please?

Thanks :)
 

Jamesey1981

Jamesey1981
I always thought they and plasmas were both, I'm probably wrong though, but that's pretty weird if they're thermic only, does that mean mirrored armour would work better against railguns than military?
 
Last edited:

Flimley

Flimley
I think the process could be classed as thermic because in the creation of the shot, rail guns use huge amounts of electricity (currently 5-50MJ) to fire a projectile which supersedes the projectiles final effect as being a kinetic one. And huge amounts of electricity creates heat and power draw from your ship.
How does that sound ? just my thoughts. I'm sure Google has better answers.

heres a little light reading on the subject. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun
 
Last edited:

Zylark

Zylark
It's a bit like with Shape-Charged Warheads used in RPG/TOW missiles. On impact it melts the core and turn it into a super-heated jet of plasma that just melts through whatever it impacts. The very high velocity of a railgun does much the same, though without the explosives. On impact the kinetic energy melt the projectile to such high degrees that it just goes through the armour like a hot knife through butter.

So what Malkevin said, just a bit more verbose :p
 

shadragon

shadragon
Rub two sticks together and you get heat.

Fire one stick at another stick at hyper velocity and you get a lot more heat. Same thing.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
[video=youtube;G1ha1bRFzJo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ha1bRFzJo[/video]

Any more questions?

BTW, as far as I know that projectile was deliberately designed for short range, so as not to annoy the neighbours (in the next state over...).
 

Princess Nia

Princess Nia
Zylark said:
On impact the kinetic energy melt the projectile to such high degrees that it just goes through the armour like a hot knife through butter.
Click to expand...


thats the thing, it deals barely any kinetic damage.

you think something traveling at hyper velocity speeds would hit pretty hard as a projectile, but it's mostly thermic damage
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Thermic = electromagnetic wave energy (photons) traveling at c (speed of light)

Kinetic = partical energy (baryons)


Maybe ED rail guns use an exotic projectile material that can be fired at a significant fraction of the speed of light. If the speed is relativistic, a significant fraction of their total energy E=mc2 is from its kinetic energy, which means that its total effective mass is measurably higher than its rest mass. This excess "mass" from its kinetic energy will be released as pure radiation (photons) when it collides with the shields/hull hence it is also cause "thermal" damage like a laser (pure photons).
 
Last edited:

Princess Nia

Princess Nia
Ziljan said:
Thermic = electromagnetic wave energy (photons) traveling at c (speed of light)

Kinetic = partical energy (baryons)


A rail gun projectile fires a mass of baryons at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Since its speed is relativistic, a significant fraction of their total energy E=mc2 is from its kinetic energy, which means that its total effective mass is measurably higher than its rest mass. This excess "mass" from its kinetic energy will be released as pure radiation (photons) when it collides with the shields/hull hence it is also cause "thermal" damage like a laser (pure photons).
Click to expand...


so it's mostly kinetic energy, but it's not in ED
 

Slack

Slack
Rail guns are Kinetic, they fire a projectile at high velocity. So if rail guns are doing any other damage aside from kinetic, its not accurate.

Makes no difference if the projectile was fired due to a thermal reaction, end result is still kinetic. Just like you would still call a handgun "kinetic" even though the projectile was fired due to an explosive reaction.
 
Last edited:

Princess Nia

Princess Nia
Slack said:
Rail guns are Kinetic, they fire a projectile at high velocity. So if rail guns are doing any other damage aside from kinetic, its not accurate.

Makes no difference if the projectile was fired due to a thermal reaction, end result is still kinetic. Just like you would still call a handgun "kinetic" even though the projectile was fired due to an explosive reaction.
Click to expand...

Thats what we're getting at, railguns are mostly thermic damage
 

Kristov

K
Railguns are both in E: D for some reason, no idea really, as this weapon type exists today, has for a while now, and it's definitely purely a kinetic weapon at the point of impact. You can even make one at home using some fairly simple materials, won't have much in the way of terminal velocity mind you(enough to break window glass and sometimes stick in wood), and they are definitely not thermic weapons as far as the projectile goes.

That video, the fireball, that's due to stuff in the atmosphere, lots of wood dust actually, set on fire due to friction, actually used on purpose for dramatic visual effect. A bit silly but it has the intended effect on the government officials overseeing the project's funding. Old farts without any scientific background, training and usually little actual knowledge of the field don't get real impressed by weapons that make a battleships 16" main guns seem like pea shooters if there's no big fireball from the weapon like those 16" mains, so, some wood dust does the trick. Silly huh? American politicians, we've got some winners...a neurosurgeon who honestly believes the planet is only 6,000 years old and thinks evolution is an atheist conspiracy...and we've got Donald Trump, need I say more? We're getting more like the Europeans as time goes by when it comes to our politicians ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom