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Posted by: Sgt_UberGrunt
Posted by: UnSe3N
It is highly unlikely that by that time in the future we will still be using gas/explosive powered projectile weapons. Currently our military has in use laser weapons mounted on satelites, humvees, and airborn vehicles. This is not futurist sci fi, this is our current technology. The U.S. Navy has tested a railgun that accelerates a 3.2 kg projectile to seven times the speed of sound. Its only a matter of time before we are able to condense the technology enough to utilize laser and electro magnetic hand held weapons.
If you don't believe me do some research on laser weapons, cutters, rail guns, etc. We already have these weapons. I believe within this century they will become hand held.
That may very well be true, but keep in mind we do lack inertial dampening technology and therefore i fail to see rocket launcher being replaced by handheld railguns just for the simple fact that the physics are against you in development, for you would need to design some sort of inertial compensator to work on principle of impulse, and therefore something would have to spread the recoil impulse from the acceleration taking only milliseconds over a few seconds otherwise such weapons would blow our arms off, and railgun tech doesn't make any sense for calibers below 1 inch (2.5cm) and you still need to carry batteries AND the kinetic rounds.
Also on the topic of laser weapons, for a laser to do any sort of damage its energy impulse has to be within the 20kw or greater range and good luck getting any more than five pulses out of a capacitor the size of a car battery, the biggest problem over the last 10 years has not been our ability to create devices that can use and modulate that kind of energy, but it is the ability to store large amounts of electrical energy effectively.
The following was taken from a physics article on rail guns:
Large scale tests performed by the US Navy of a prototype rail gun involved a 3.35 Kg projectile with a muzzle velocity of 2520 meters/sec. This gives a momentum in excess of 8000 Kg-meters/sec, enough to send a 200 Kg rail gun backward at over 40 meters per second. A conventional gun with similar performance would require a massive and extensive recoil absorption apparatus. There is none needed with a rail gun.
You obviously have no idea what you are talking about in these matters. A railgun produces extremely low amounts of recoil when compared to conventional explosive weapons. That is because a rail gun works by creating electromagnetic currents to force a projectile to incredible speeds. In the majority of the designs the projectile will not even touch the barell when shot. There are several papers you should read to enlighten yourself, most of which are written by naval scientists.
It is evident that you have little to no knowledge about this subject so instead of citing various articles and papers on brakethroughs in laser technology and energy storage I will spend my time doing things more productive.
Please spend the time to know what you are talking about before you try to rebuttal for the sake of looking intelligent.