For those unfamiliar with the concept of a railgun, it’s a dangerous weapon which uses a massive electrical pulse, instead of gunpowder or other chemical propellants to fire its ammo. The US Navy is showing off the latest iteration of its railgun, and it’s a beast. This thing can launch projectiles distances over 100 nautical miles – and at speeds that exceed Mach 6. So yeah, this is a serious gun.
You see that puff of smoke after it fires the projectile? It is not really smoke. Because the projectile is moving so fast, it vaporizes the air around it. Now let that sink in for a moment. It vaporizes the air! You do not want to be on the receiving end of that projectile.
The way it reloads and fires reminds me of a robot, which reminds me that robots should not get their hands on this when the eventually take over.
[via Digg via Geekologie]
