Hi...
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?
Let's say the hull is made from a metal (we'll use Titanium):
Melting Point--------: (unknown)
Density g / cm^3-----: 4.54
Atomization kj / mol-: 468.60
So, the bullet is fired at our target ship and hits!
500 MegaJourles of energy (kinetic/heat, right?) is transferred onto an area
5 cm across.
How do we determine if the hull if breeched?
Does the section of hull simply evaporate?
I'll assume the bullet disintegrates upon impact (more than enough energy is
transferred to the bullet as well), so clean "through and through" shots
aren't likely (unless you had some really dense bullet material?? Anyone
care to suggest such a material?)
Thanks to everyone in advance...
-Joel
joel at mega-traveller dot com
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