> How would I go about calculating how much 'damage' a rail gun could do to
> the hull of a starship?
>
> Eric Henry's fantastic spreadsheet "Mass Driver" makes this possible, easy
> and accurate. (Thanks Eric!)
>
> If I had a 10kg mass, with an exit velocity of 10,000 m/s (fantastically
> high, I know), and the weapon/barrel length is 60 metres, I'd be able to
> inflict 500 megajoules of damage onto the target.
>
> Now... How do I reflect this energy transfer to the hull of a starship?
Well, a quick rule of thumb is that one megaton of TNT is 4.2e15J.
So one kiloton is 4.2e12, and one tonne is 4.2e9. Which makes 1 kilo
4.2e6. So you've done the equivalent of setting off 119 kilos of TNT.
Only a lot more concentrated.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com
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