Pardon my ignorance, but isnt the idea behind a gauss canon/gun thing the same as behind a railgun? Shoot a small dense object with such incredible speeds that it will basically rip through anything?
Well, yes, but there are limitations to making them work. Getting a basic gauss cannon to work is not such a problem, but when you start adding coil stages you begin to really add to the complexity of operation.
I was curious about the approach because all the things I listed stack up. For instance, the more turns of the wire in the coil, the greater the magnetic force created when the current is pulsed. But you can't use 30 gauge wire (more turns) if your current is going to be too high - you'll just melt the coils. So you have to use a heavier gauge wire - at the cost of turns and magnetic force generated.
The phenomenon when the electric current is passing through the coiled wire and generates a magnetic field drives the ferromagnetic projectile forward can be reversed. If you have a ferromagnetic projectile passing through a coil you induce a current in the opposite direction. To be clear: If you run the current through coil 1 in a CCW direction and propel a projectile forward through coil 2, a current will be generated in a CW direction. This is because the coil is resisting the change in magnetic flux caused by the projectile (called reluctance). (Think newton's third law - the for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction)
This is where you get what are called eddy currents which degrade the effectiveness of the coil gun at each successive stage. As the projectile accelerates it counteracts any successive stage up to a point where you can even slow the projectile down by having too many stages unless you can compensate by pumping more energy into the latter stages. (Not very efficient)
Rail guns are far and away superior in efficiency and accelerating a mass to unbelievable speeds. But the rails also go to shit after, in some cases of extremely powerful rail guns, even 1 firing. Not a reliable platform for combat purposes. Coilguns might have promise if the efficiency could be amped up. Right now you are doing good to get 2% efficiency.
I expect lasers will be the main weapon of the not so distant future.
And to tie this loosely to the topic. I'm still a cubicle monkey, at work, thinking about lasers instead of what I should be doing.
EDIT: Lasers will be the main weapon in line-of-sight applications.
