PocketMatrix

So, for chemistry this term me and my group have to make a really cool experiment to demonstrate to 4th graders in June. We have decided to make a gauss gun (linear magnetic accelerator), also called a coil gun or railgun. The point of it is to accelerate a metallic projectile down a tube with extremely high powered electromagnets, and as the projectile (which are large steel ball bearings) passes just before the magnetic coil, it will hit a trigger (optical interference switch) that will turn off the coil and power up the next one. The tube will be 1 meter long, and will have approximately 10 electromagnetic coils (electromagnetic means that it only becomes magnetized from an electric source [battery]). We're in the first stages of designing it, the power switch system is the hardest part, as all websites say too (www.powerlabs.org is a great site for this), so the circuitry will be tricky, especially if we have to use a super-capacitor. We have a power supply and projectiles ready. Next we have to get the clear tubing (HPE pipe, my dad's gonna order some at work), and a bunch of choke coils (electromagnets), then we can set up a coil and see its power with the ball bearing. If it's adaquate, then we'll assemble the whole thing and set up the power switch system. The power switch system is dangerous, with too much power, it can explode, catch on fire, or melt. This is not a 9V battery, this is a 500V super-capacitor on a 120V power supply. The power supply could be better, but it's fine for now, but if it proves to be too weak, we'll have to upgrade. We're starting now so we can finish early so we can do stuff like put EL lighting wires down the base of the gun and other LED fun stuff. This project is gonna be sooo cool .

isn't that dangerous to build such a weapon at school? ;) But it's a really interesting project. Tell us if it works and take some screenshots too when it's done :P

If you spiral the electromagnets within the barrel then the pellet will be spiralling as it leaves the barrel, offering more accuracy.

just like a rifle.


O/T, but the topic review thing is glitching all to hell on me. Anyone else having this problem?

500V supercapicator?? uhh voltage doesnt matter its all about the farads ;-P

andyhoo, me and my friend are building a maglev that works on electromagnetic induction, its based on the inductrack developed at lawrence livermore national laboratory. and yes i have .5T magnets for this project, a lot of .5T magnets and i have yet to combine them into a halbach array which will make the array around 1-2T hehehehehehehehe.

^-- I was actually waiting for someone to say that! But if anything, I think it's going to look most like the , only because there will be blue lights on it. The coils will probably be bronze/red, so try to picture this:

A black wooden board 1 meter long and about 20 cm wide. On one end (the loading end) will be the power supply with capacitors and projectile storage, and any other electronics. From there to the end of the board is a meter long transparent tube 3/4" ID (1" diameter). Around is are 10 bronze/red coils, so it'll look like this:
--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0
The tube and coils are not laying on the wood, but are on pillars that attach to the coils (2 on each), so it looks like a monorail. If we finish with time to spare (which we should), we're gonna put blue EL strips down the sides of the base. There will also be red power-indictating LEDs on top of the coils, and hopefully a bar-graph LED display for voltage control. I'll also make sure to put plenty of "Danger: High Voltage! Will Cause Death!" stickers on it. And I MUST put an "Aim Away From Face" sticker on it!