List of electromagnetic projectile devices in fiction

Electromagnetic projectile devices often appear in fiction, especially science fiction where they are described as Kinetic energy weaponry, gauss guns, mass drivers or railguns. However, their fictional behavior rarely matches that of real-life projectile devices, which are typically much less powerful and far more bulky.

Realism of depictions

Some fictional sources describe the projectile as moving at significant fractions of the speed of light, implying an unrealistically high amount of energy given current human capabilities.[1] The coordinate mass (mass accounting for effects of special relativity based on velocity) of a projectile is \frac{m}{\sqrt{1 - (v/c)^2}}, where c is the speed of light and m is the mass at low velocities, where the effects of special relativity are insignificant. The kinetic energy of the projectile would be represented by \frac{1}{2}m v^2, where m is the coordinate mass, and v is the velocity. As the velocity of the projectile increases, the total mass increases quickly, making it immensely hard for velocities of such magnitude to be attained. To date only microscopic particles have been induced to go so fast through human technology.

In fiction they can depicted as firing inert projectiles from orbit directly at planetary surface targets (EG: Babylon 5, series 2 – the Centauri invade the Narn home world after an attack using "Mass Drivers") as if the target and the shooter are not moving relative to each other, and do not have a gravity well nearby to effect the projectiles' trajectory. They point the gun at the target, and shoot, and hit the target, from orbit. In reality, at least if the muzzle velocity is not much greater than the orbital velocity, they would not be aiming at the surface, but firing behind their orbit, so that the projectiles would lose their orbital velocity and free-fall to the surface.

Literature

Film

Television

Tabletop role-playing games and wargames

Computer and video games

Some computer games feature railguns as weapons. The most popular type of ammunition for these railguns are depleted uranium slugs. A common trait shared by many railguns in different games is the ability for a slug (or other ammo type) to hit and pass though multiple enemies with one shot as well as allowing one to see, one shot kill, and/or shoot though solid matter by use of some type of x-ray or even a thermal aiming device (mainly in first-person shooters). This is conspicuously similar to the behavior of the railguns in the aforementioned movie "Eraser", which was released during the first person shooter boom.

Other traits can include these weapons being able to do electricity- or EMP-based damage because most railguns in video games use electromagnets as a main power source.

See also

External links

References

  1. Munro, John (1897). A Trip to Venus (2007 IndyPublish ed. ed.). London: Jarrold & Sons. pp. 26–28.