RE: railguns

Roger Books wrote:

> > At those speeds, the slugs don't need to be very large - the
kinetic
> > energy of a 10-gram slug travelling at 0.01c is IIRC about one
kTon,
> > but don't quote me on that yet since my reference books are at work
:-(
> 
> 1kTon tnt = 6.31*(10**8)joules  (newton*meter)

Thanks :-) That's the one I didn't have handy at home :-(
 
> My (probably faulty, if someone could check) old physics says it
works
> out to about 1kTon being about the same as 10 grams at 355km/sec 
> relative velocity.  Hmmmm, about .001c.

Yep, correct. I was an order of magnitude off - in the right direction,
fortunately <g> 10g at .01c relative is about .1 MTon instead, so if it
hits someone is gonna get *hurt*...

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry