A10 minute railgun ‘A taliqun isa device for accelerating an object by running electric current through it along a pair of rls. When large amounts of power are used, the rallgun becomes a potent weapon, Bu the principles can be demonstrated safely by using a smaller amount of power, n our case, from a 9 volt bation. |Whon a small amount of power is used, the rails can be re-used many times. If larger arsounts of power are used, the rllgun becomes a one-shat device, as te rails are destroyed inthe process of shooting the gun, due to arcing and flexing ofthe ral. “There are several types of ral gun, each with a diferent method of accelerating the object. This version is calle a linear homopolar motor. What you need + pice of cardboard ar wood for a base. It can be any length. Ours is about 18 inches long, and about 6 inches wide. + Two strips of aluminum fl, 2 inches wide, and 2 Inches longer than the base. + A2 inch wide long of steel wie, such as from a coathanger. + 2.dsc magnets, plated in a good conductor, suchas gold. The super-powerful magnets in our catalog (/stre.himl) work great, and wore the ‘ones used in this projec. + Some white glue + A9 volt battory + Two aligator clip leads‘Next we attach the battery with the clip leads, We wont worry about batery pola a his time ~ ifthe gun shoots the wrong way, we willeverse the battery.“The nest stop i to file the ends ofthe coathangor wie fat, Ths wil alow the magnols lo sek fat tothe ends of he wie axe If the fling ie done ‘careful to make the flat ends perpendicular othe wie, then there willbe less wobbling asthe magnets travel down the rls. : . Now the magnets are placed on either end ofthe wire axle. The magnets should have their poles facing in opposite directors. The magnets repel ‘one another when aligned this way, but wil sl stick frmly tothe steel axle, No glue is necessary, as the magnets are very stong, Firing the railgun ‘Te fire the ratigun ust drop the wheels on the rails, They wil start to accelerate immediately. f they dont move at al the magnets are probably not Pointing the same way. Lif the wheels, and fip one magnet, and try again. it stil doesnt work, check the battery andthe connections, Ifthe wheels move inthe wrong rection, you can ether start them a the othr en, or reverse the batary How does it do that? ‘The homapoar motor was one othe fist motors over bull Michael Faraday bu one. ‘There are many diferent designs. The ene shown below is only one of them‘A magnets placed north pole facing up in a bow! of vinegar. The magnet is one of aur super-powerul ones from our catalog (store him). Suspended over itis @ heavy piece of copper ue or wire, hanging from aflexble stranded wire aligator clip. The vinegar covers the tube to depth of about a half of an inch. The tube does not quite touch the magnet, buts free to swing around. A piece of aluminum fol also ress inthe vingar (tis can be a copper wire instead, itis not erica). ‘when we connect a source of about 30 to $0 volts (some 8 vol batteries connected in series) tothe fll andthe tube, the lube starts to revolve ‘around the magnet. We also get lots of bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen but fr this projct that i usta sida effect We have created a homopolar motor. Unlike our previous motors, this one does not change the polas of an electromagnet from narth to south and back ‘As the curent flows through the copper wire (or tube in our case), a magnetic fla is created around it. This magnetic fle interacts with the ‘magnetic fel ofthe magnet atthe bottom of the bow. The arrangement is sel up 60 thatthe magnetic fled inthe wire exerts its force at aight angle to the magnetic eld ofthe bottom magnet. Tis makes the wire crcle that magnet. ‘Another simple hemepolar motoris shown below.The photo above shows the pats before assembly. Thore are three magnets ~ wo small disks, and one cube whose north pole we have marked wit fan“N", The magnets are from our catalog (store.him). There is @D cal battery, and a bare copper wire we have formed into @ shape whose form will make sense shorty“The two smal disk magnets are set on top ofthe North pole ofthe cube magnet, The loop in the bottom ofthe wie form is then placed in top ofthe two disks. The loop is ust barely larger than the disks, The postive pote ofthe battery is then carfuly placed ontop of he dsks, and the pointed ‘end of the wie form is placed inthe dimple atthe top ofthe battry \When the whole structure is balanced on the cube magnet, the wire begins spining around the battery. |What is going on her is similar to what fs going on in aur vinegar version. “The current from the battery is flowing through the wire on ath sides ofthe wire form. This creates a magnetic eld around the wie. This fla Interacts withthe field from the cube magnet and the asks, The wires fed creates a force at right angles tothe fll from the magne. This causes the righ side of the wire o be pushed towards you, andthe [ft side o be pushed away rom you. Ths ation continues until the baltory runs down, ‘Suppose we held onto the wire, and lt the magnet move? We can do that by simply setting the battery on the taba, on its sid. “The wire rotates unlit hits the table, The force continues after the wire can no longer rotate, and so instead ofthe wire rotating the battery andthe ‘magnets rotate, This makes the battery roll along the table tke a steam rol. ‘You can now see that we are very close to our rallgun dosign. Tho raigun is relly just Wo of those battory rollors connected eneéto-ond, The battory 's now extemal, and the wires have been replaced by the ralls. The magnetic Feld in the ralls crates a force at right angles tothe magnetic eld of ‘the railgun trolley’ wheels, and causes them to rol «Aig votage ion motor (lon_motor him!) up ‘4.30 second homopolar motor» homopelar_serew:html) (leloctromagnotism nim) + Magnetism (imagnetism.html)+ Electromagnetism Volectromagnettsm him) > motor in 10 minutes (40_minute_mototm) > A igger mator (bigger matochtm!) > motor with two coils (Rwo col.) > high voltage motorin 5 minutes Uhigh_voltage.nim)) > rotary high voltage motor (rotary high_voltage_motor. him > Asimple homemade Van de Graatt go tor (dg nm) > Some fun withthe Vande Graaf generator (dg_un. him) > high vatage ton motor (lon_motorhtm) > 10 minute raigun raigun.him) > 30 second homopolr motor (homapolr_serow.hirl) > Listening to Magnotism (barkhauson hm) + Electrochemistry (/lecrochemistryhini) + Rago Vradiotoys he) ++ Thermodynamics (thermodynamics tml) + Aerodynamics aerodynamics him) + Light and Optes (ight and_ootis Miri) + Biology (ilogyhi) + Mathematics (mathematics him + Computers and Electronics (Jcomputers_and_electroics him!) Got the books this se Is based on, Just ei onthe book you wantBo ('90nzo_glzmos.him\) (anitreeze.nimi) its and pars are available in our catalog (store.him). ‘This blocks broken or missing. You may be missing content or you migh need to enable the original med D ZOIE Monnmarslecontaiserse) rep caay