> While the magnetic acceleration process of the gauss weapon may be ABSOLUTELY
> silent (and I have my doubts about this also), anyone within several hundred
> meters of the weapon will be treated to the staccato crack of gauss needles
> punching holes in the air.
>> So what about sculpting the needles so that the air-flow around
>> then is radically different - ie it generates sound of a frequency
>> that is too high for the ears to pick up ? Obviously horribly
>> expensive to produce, but would it work ? Subsonic only, I expect ...
It is also worthy to point out that a simple pillow when held against the
muzzle of a gun, be it supersonic or subsonic, quiets the sound to the point
that a person 20 feet or so away cann't hear it clearly. Admittedly we
are talking about a single shot. But there are TWO things that cause the
noise of gun fire. First and obviously, the expanding gasses of the burning
gun powder, are easily quieted. Second is the bullet passing the sound
barrior. Another easily solved problem. The only real hard part is making
the silenecer have enough space to allow the compression wave to be absorbed
and still have something that is small and light weight. That is why you will
notice the larger/faster the round, the bigger the silencer. It would also
be theoretically possible to silence a 155mm Howizer but not practicle.
Dave
+-----------------------------------------+
| [email removed] | Nuke 'um Till They Glow
| [email removed] | Then Shoot Them in the Dark
| [email removed] |
| [email removed] | Peace through superior firepower
+-----------------------------------------+