Re: GEV and Grav Vehicles

On Tue, 30 Nov 1999 08:31:44 -0500, "Bell, Brian K"
<Brian_Bell@dscc.dla.mil>
wrote:

>Why would recoil not be a problem? Even if you use magnetics to propel
an
>object, there is still an equal and opposite force applied against the
>launcher. Or did they repeal Newton's Law?

I said it wouldn't be a problem, but there would still be recoil. What I
should have said is that it would be much LESS of a problem than an
explosive
propellent.

Basically with a gun or a mass driver you're trying to apply energy to a
target. With a gun a good chunk of the energy comes from mass. With a
mass
driver, more of it comes from velocity. 

So, you've got energy being produced by mv**2 (mass times velocity
squared).
However, momentum is based on mv (mass times velocity). Since the
projectile's
mass can be pretty tiny, you've got a lot of energy for not much
momentum. And
since the vehicle's mass is pretty big, you don't have a lot of reverse
momentum. 

That's, of course, assuming you're using a mass driver with magnets. I
believe
you get even LESS recoil from a mass driver that uses a plasma flow,
with part
of the projectile eaten up to form the plasma bridge...

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"