# Railguns **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662 "2002-08-26T18:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/1 "2002-08-26T18:28:42Z")
How long till railguns will be used in the military? (warships tanks etc) How far away are personal railguns? Are they even a good idea? Are they even feasable as weapons since the require an excess of energy? Just curious… Hey stop looking at me like that! ---
**Author:** ![mancunian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mancunian/32/12244_2.png) [@mancunian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mancunian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/2 "2002-08-26T19:25:16Z")
Railguns? what, like the type you an get in Quake 3, the video game? (not being a smartass, just never heard of 'em got a in real life, you site for me bud?) Ta 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mancunian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mancunian/32/12244_2.png) [@mancunian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mancunian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/3 "2002-08-26T19:31:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mancunian \* > \*\*Railguns? what, like the type you an get in Quake 3, the video game? > (not being a smartass, just never heard of 'em got a in real life, you site for me bud?) > Ta 😃 \*\* Sorry, I’m using a laptop, and it keeps jumping to random points, so the above text should have read: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mancunian \* > \*\*Railguns? what, like the type you an get in Quake 3, the video game? > (not being a smartass, just never heard of 'em in real life, you got site for me bud?) > Ta 😃 \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/4 "2002-08-26T19:32:42Z")
From what I’ve heard I don’t think railguns will be coming to the personal arena for quite some time. The reason being is the recoil. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/5 "2002-08-26T19:42:10Z")
I think the power supply issue would also help kill man-carried railguns for anytime in the near future. Railguns need electricity to fire - a lot of it, supplied over a very short period of time. That means a sizeable battery and a huge capacitor bank or other means of storing and releasing a lot of power very quickly. Regular old chemical-propellant guns have the advantage of using a power source that can go from stored to mechanical energy in a single step in an instant, with much higher power density than any battery or capacitor yet developed. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/6 "2002-08-26T19:46:52Z")
The Germans had military [railguns](http://www.home.ch/~spaw3103/railguns.html) in WWII. Wasn’t what you were looking for? How about [personal railguns](http://www.roballen.co.za/guns.htm)? That wasn’t what you were looking for either I would imagine. OK, I’ll stop playing and send you to the [electromagnetic weapons group at Northwestern University](http://www.physics.nwu.edu/classes/2001Fall/Phyx135-2/19/e-mweapons.htm). Military applications look a ways off for the railgun, but check out the non-lethal microwave “raygun” that is being developed. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/7 "2002-08-26T19:55:47Z")
I should also mention that the US Navy has some pretty doable plans to replace the steam catapults in Aircraft carriers with [electromagnetic catapults](http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/article.cfm?Id=539)- big rail guns mounted in the deck that throw F-16s instead of bullets. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/8 "2002-08-26T21:16:27Z")
You can always tell when ‘Eraser’ is running on cable… ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/9 "2002-08-26T22:13:57Z")
Thanks for the links. I was just staring at some nails on my desk and wondering how much damage they could do at 33% C (C=speed of light for all those laymens out there ;)). I had also read a Time magazine in a barber shop about new weapons. Including that microwave gun. Pretty cool, probably hurts likes hell though. Still, its better than getting shot. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/railguns/125662/10 "2002-08-26T22:18:18Z")
[These guys](http://web.mit.edu/mouser/www/railgun/halluc/intro.html) built one for a class. I thought that if a railgun was in motion while it was fired, the slug would come in contact with the rails, resulting in its sticking to them and rendering the gun useless until it was removed. But that’s just my own crackpot theory, and if someone proves me wrong I’d be happy to accept it.