Physics

Rail gun

A capacitor-driven rail launcher couples current, changing inductance and armature motion. Inspect force, speed, Joule losses and the complete energy balance in slow motion.

By Mykhailo Makarov

Actual application image

Try this

Discharge a capacitor into two rails and an armature. The same current determines force and circuit back-emf. Energy bars: capacitor, field, motion, heat. Playback is slowed to milliseconds.

Equations used in the module

Equations
L(x) = L0 + L′x; F = L′I²/2
L I′ = V − (R + L′v)I; C V′ = −I
E = CV²/2 + LI²/2 + Mv²/2 + Q
Q′ = R I²

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