Re: High Speed Projectiles

> From: Adrian Hurt [email removed]
> Subject: (2689) Re: High Speed Projectiles

> Just how much acceleration can a good mass-driver deliver?  If the ship is
> on the order of 100's of metres long and the mass-driver is spinally mounted
> (so it is as long as the ship), then the acceleration needed is on the order
> of 10**11 m/s**2.

  The maximum velocity of a projectile launched with a MD designed according to
the 3G system is about 129km/s, and the projectile in this case is a 2mm light-
weight sphere.
  The reason behind this that the mimimum diameter of the projectile increase
with increasing energy of the projectile, but the energy required for a certain
speed increase faster...

  I'll look at how speeds that can be reached if one stack several accelerators
after eachother and assume that the energy add is equal for each accelerator,
but I'm lost without a spreadsheet right now:)

  As for what material to make the projectiles of, why not take some junk
artifacts of monadium? If it is as indestructible as it is described to be, it
shouldn't suffer from ablation at high speeds.

- - -bertil-
- - --
"That's the best use of Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium that *I've*
 ever seen!" - Me to a player who'd just used it to flatten a mosquito:)