The History and Evolution of Guns: From Ancient China to Modern Railguns

Guns have been a technology with roots dating back to 12th century China, and over time, they have evolved significantly. While advancements have led to increased size and power, ammunition has adapted from spherical shapes to the familiar bullet shape for greater efficiency at supersonic speeds. The barrels of modern guns have also undergone changes, including twists to impart a spin on the round to improve accuracy. Furthermore, the method of transportation for guns has revolutionized their use.

Despite these advancements, one constant in gun technology has remained unchanged throughout history: its potential for revolution. This is evident in the invention of railguns, which are guns that utilize electromagnetic force to propel projectiles instead of explosives. The use of explosives as a power source has several drawbacks, including the need for large caches on naval ships, which can lead to catastrophic consequences.

The development of railgun technology holds significant promise, particularly in terms of reducing the risk associated with using explosives. Naval artillery currently reaches speeds of up to Mach 3, while railguns have the potential to double this speed, reaching hypersonic velocities of up to Mach 6. This would greatly extend the range and reduce the time to impact by nearly double. However, achieving these speeds is not without its challenges.

Railguns function by using electromagnetism to propel a conductive armature, which houses the projectile, downrange. The physics behind this process is relatively simple but the math can be complex. Two parallel rods connected to a power source serve as the weapon's barrel, while completing the circuit with the armature generates a magnetic field. When current passes through these two rods and the armature, it produces the Lorentz Force, which acts both perpendicular to the flow of current and the magnetic field.

The beauty of the Lorentz Force lies in its consistency; as the length of the barrel increases, so does the muzzle velocity. However, generating sufficient energy to propel a projectile through the barrel requires significant amounts of power, particularly when compared to traditional explosive-based systems. The use of advanced materials and designs is essential for overcoming these limitations.

The development of railgun technology has far-reaching potential beyond naval applications. Its ability to quickly fire multiple interceptors at a fraction of the cost and increase the chances of success holds promise for intercepting ICBMs and other threats. Moreover, large versions of railguns could be deployed in orbit to destroy or change the direction of incoming asteroids.

The challenges associated with developing railgun technology include difficulties in achieving durability and sufficient power output. The development of a generator capable of producing 78 megawatts has been essential for advancing this technology. However, these issues have led to delays in the introduction of railguns on modern naval vessels, such as the Zumwalt-Class Destroyer.

Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of railgun technology make it an exciting area of research and development. The use of magnetic fields to propel projectiles holds significant promise for reducing the risk associated with traditional explosive-based systems. As engineers continue to push the boundaries of this technology, we can expect to see innovative solutions that transform various industries.

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Conclusion

The history and evolution of guns have been shaped by significant advancements in technology. From ancient China to modern railguns, human ingenuity has consistently led to innovations that improve efficiency and reduce risk. As we continue to explore the potential applications of railgun technology, it is essential to remember the importance of problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThis episode of Real Engineering is brought to you by brilliant.org,a problem solving website that helps you think like an engineer.Guns are a technology whose roots can be traced all the way back to 12th century China.And although the technology has advanced beyond recognition:with the guns growing in size and power their ammunition has evolved from sphericalto the more familiar bullet shape to make them more efficient at supersonic speeds;the barrels have been bored with twists to impart a spin on the round to make it more accurate;and the method of their transportation has revolutionized how they're used.But there has been one constant for this technology through the centuries.Today we're going to learn how this technology looks set to be revolutionized by its largest iteration to datewith the invention of the rail gun.Rail guns are guns that use electromagnetic force to propel a projectile instead of an explosive.Using explosives to power artillery has some drawbacks.Perhaps the most glaring one, being that naval ships have to carry huge caches ofexplosives on board to power their guns. This has backfired several times throughout history,particularly during World War II when on multiple occasions Japanese attacks detonated huge stores of ammunitions within ships,with the most horrifying case being the kamikaze attack on the USS John Burke,where the resulting explosion dwarfed the gigantic ships in its convoy.Obviously, avoiding future cases of this would be ideal; but this isn't the only advantage.Current railgun designs are doubling the muzzle velocity of all naval artillerywith hypersonic speeds up to Mach 6 -- most naval artillery max out at Mach 3.This would extend the range and reduce the time to impact by nearly double tooif it wasn't for the elevated air resistance at these speeds.This technology has been a focus of the US military for decades, and for good reason.So let's see how it works and what needs to improve before we see it introduced to service.Rail guns use electromagnetism to propel a conductive armature, housing the projectile, downrange.The physics is quite simple, however the math is not.Two parallel rods are connected to a power source -- these two rods can be considered the weapon's barrel.Connecting these two rods and completing the circuit is the armature.As the current passes through the rails, it generates a magnetic field.The same happens as it passes through the armature.The interaction of these perpendicular currents through the magnetic field produces something called the Lorentz Force.This force acts both perpendicular to the flow of the current and the magnetic field.In the case of the railgun, this force is what pushes the projectile through the barrel and downrange.The beauty of the Lorentz Force is that it's consistent,meaning the longer the barrel the higher the muzzle velocity.but the power required to simply overcome the static friction within the barrel of a miniature railguncan require significant amounts of energy most individuals don't easily have access to.This is when things start to get extremely interesting or extremely challengingbecause both solving for the Lorentz Force and generating sufficient Lorentz Forceare both huge engineering challenges that have only been made possible and sustainable in the last 20 years.The Lorentz Force, in the case of a railgun, is simply the current multiplied by the armature width, the magnetic field in Teslas, and sine theta,where theta is the angle of the current, which in this case is 90 degrees.The magnetic field, B, is a property of the railguns design,such as materials, rail separation, and diameter and overall design geometry.With some assumptions, the equations clean up a bit,but for actual railgun design, these assumptions can't be made.While this technology has huge potential,there are some problems that need to be overcome to make this a serious weapon system.First and foremost, the same force that is applied to the armature also acts on the parallel rails.Quite literally, every time the weapon system is fired, the gun is actively trying to tear itself apart.On top of all this, the heat generated during each shot is so immense it is melting the rails.This can be seen during test fire drills with prototype railgun systems.That discharge you see behind the projectile is not the result of explosive propulsion,but a result of the resistive electric heating created by the huge current running through the railsand the frictional force between the armature and the rail,causing the rails to melt and shed material during each shot, causing more damage to the rail.These are unavoidable side effects,which are currently limiting the railgun to just a few shots before the damage breaks the gun entirely.Next, and possibly the most obvious limitation to the railgun design as a whole, is power.For this weapon to ever be introduced to service, it would have to be paired with a power sourcecapable of providing the 25 megawatts needed to fire it.Even if previous generation ships had this capability,they would not have had enough power in reserveafter satisfying the needs to the onboard systems and propulsion.But America's new futuristic Zumwalt-Class Destroyeris an all-electric composite ship that was slated to test this new weapon.With a generator capable of creating 78 megawatts, it would still have 58 megawatts of capacity availableafter providing for the rest of the ship's essential power requirements.Difficulties in railgun development and fiscal pull backs in Zumwalt construction have delayed their introduction.But they can, and likely will, be retrofitted in the coming years,once the current Durability problems have been solved.And while this technology is currently being funded by the military, it has far-reaching potential for other industries.We spoke recently of the challenges of intercepting ICBMs with traditional missiles.Rail guns could allow multiple interceptors to be quickly fired at a fraction of the cost and increase the chances of success.They have even been suggested as a means of protecting the earth from asteroids,with huge versions in orbit, to destroy or change the direction of incoming asteroids.Launching a satellite like this could also be made drastically cheaper tooif we can deliver the materials to orbit with nothing more than the force a magnetic field imparts on a moving electric charge.If you'd like to learn more about electricity and magnetism and how they affect the world around usor any number of other scientific and mathematical principles,the best way to learn and understand principles like this is by applying them yourself,and that's exactly what brilliant.org allows you to do.One of my goals with this channel is to inspire my viewers to follow the path of past engineers to make this world a better place.But to do that you have to learn how to apply these principles yourself.Brilliant is a problem-solving site that helps you think like an engineerby guiding you through problems that are broken into digestible sections that bring you from knowing nothingto having a deep understanding of the topic.What I love is that when you answer something incorrectly, it even tells you exactly why so you can correct your misconceptions.To support Real Engineering and learn more about Brilliant, go to brilliant.org/realengineeringand sign up for free. And the first 200 people that go to that link will get 20% off their annual premium subscription.Brilliant is a perfect fit for my channel, so please check them out.As usual, thank you to all my Patreon supporters for helping this channel exist.Myself and Sam from Wendover Productions just released the latest episode of our podcast, Showmakers,with special guest, Christian Tierney, who is an incredible photographer and videographerwho recently worked with Conor McGregor for his last fight with Floyd Mayweather.The link for that should be on screen now.\n"