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Daryan Sankar

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Plasma Cannons!!

Could a railgun, theoretically speaking, shoot super heated charged particles(plasma). Railguns use electromagnetism to fire projectiles, so since plasma has an electric charge could it be shot out of a railgun? Just curious.

Topics: Guns Plasma Rail Gun
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Closing Statement from Daryan Sankar

Thanks for the input guys!

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  • John Smith 30+

    • +1
    Sep 22 2012: You can shoot plasma blobs with a rail gun, but like Ken Brown said below, the problem is (in an atmosphere) containment: the blob of plasma would quickly dissipate as it comes into contact with molecules in the air. Researchers are working on ways to solve a problem, for example a laser could ionize the air between the gun and the target (range would probably be severely limited) to make the air conduct plasma instead of dissipating it, the holy grail of plasma gun research is replicating ball lightning, an obscure and rare natural phenomenon where a ball of plasma generates and sustains a magnetic containment field around itself, this containment field would keep the plasma together so it can plow through the air like a bullet. We know it is possible to construct a device that does this but so far no one has been able to build one that's a practical weapon.
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    Ken brown 30+

    • +1
    Sep 22 2012: I don't think we can fire a contained blob of plasma without it dissipating? I know there are plasma cutters out there,try and google them and see where that leads.

    I think Laser technology is where everything is centered in todays world.
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