<COMMENT>The ABI labs</COMMENT>
<P><B><JC>Energy Weapons
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<P><B>Railgun
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<P>A railgun is a form of gun that converts electrical energy (rather than the more conventional chemical energy from an explosive propellant) into projectile kinetic energy. It is not to be confused with a coilgun (Gauss gun).
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<P>Although conceptually simple, the operation of a railgun involves several problems that have to this day made a practical design (one that can be used in the field to replace conventional weapons) impossible.
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<P>A wire carrying an electrical current, when in a magnetic field, experiences a force perpendicular to the direction of the current and the direction of the magnetic field.
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<P><B>Coilgun
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<P>A coilgun (also known as Gauss gun, Gauss cannon or Gauss rifle) is a type of magnetic accelerator gun (MAG) or magnetic accelerator cannon (MAC). It uses a series of electromagnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic shell to very high velocities. The name "Gauss gun" comes from Carl Friedrich Gauss, who formulated mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic effect used by coilguns.
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<P>A coilgun, as the name implies, consists of a coil of wire (or solenoid) with a ferromagnetic projectile placed at one of its ends. A large current is pulsed through the coil and a strong magnetic field forms, pulling the projectile to the center of the coil. When the projectile nears this point, the coil is switched off and a next coil can be switched on, progressively accelerating the projectile down successive stages. In common coilgun designs, the "barrel" of the gun is made up of a track that the projectile rides on, with the driver coils around the track. Power is supplied to the coils from some sort of fast discharge storage device, typically a battery of high-capacity high voltage capacitors designed for fast energy discharge.