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Post by Hypercube on Jun 3, 2015 20:24:53 GMT
So this summer I will be working at a Boy Scout summer camp that I've been volunteering at for four years now. The person who hired me knows that I'm going to school for physics and is aware of my acuity for the sciences so he's placed me in the NOVA program. Now NOVA doesn't actually stand for anything but it's the BSA's version of a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program so it includes all the merit badges that involve those disciplines. I myself believe that I will teaching electricity, nuclear science, and chemistry in addition to some others that don't relate directly to STEM. The reason I'm saying all this is that since I'll be working in this are the chances of me making some interesting stuff are pretty high and I thought I would show you guys what I'm up to! The only thing that I've done so far is started working on a coil gun which shoots a magnet through a coil of wire. I'll throw the picture of it bellow and I expect to have a video of it in action sooner or later for you guys to see! The way it works is that the coil, when a current is sent through it, creates a magnetic field that either repels or attracts the magnetic due to it's own magnetic field (based on the orientation). By placing it at the center of the coil and turning the circuit on, the magnetic projectile fires from the end after being accelerated by the coil's magnetic field. Long story short: it's a gun that uses electricity and a magnet.
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Post by Leorgathar on Jun 4, 2015 3:52:48 GMT
That sounds awesome, Hyper! I would love to see that coil gun in action Also, congratulations on being assigned to that NOVA program, sounds like you'll have a great time there
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Post by Hypercube on Jun 4, 2015 21:36:50 GMT
So before I talk about what I've done with the coil gun I'm going to say this as an obligatory safety message: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SORT OF THING. IT IS REALLY DANGEROUS IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT OR UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS YOU ARE DOING; ELECTRICITY IS NOT A TOY, ESPECIALLY IN THIS TYPE OF SETUP.
Okay, now that that's out I can get on with it.
So in order to make the magnet move faster (my father and I weren't too impressed with the speed it left the barrel) we deiced to add MORE POWER. Well, more voltage is actually what we were looking for. We added yet another car batter and got rid of the switch as to not destroy it with the huge current that would be passing through it and opted to just touch the wire to the battery port directly. This increased the potential, and therefore the current, of the circuit by 150% so that should translate to a pretty big increase in speed given the amount of coils we have wrapped around that spool. I should have a video or two for you all soon enough so keep those ears perked!
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Post by Hypercube on Jun 4, 2015 21:46:03 GMT
I've got a little gif of the thing firing for you guys! It was much easier to display it as a gif rather than a full video so I got it up much quicker than I was expecting. The person holding the wires is none other than my father; thanks dad! The cool thing about this video is that you can see that the projectile fires before the sparks fly which I personally thought was a pretty cool thing to see on the playback that is not at all obvious when you actually do it in person. Anyways, here it is:
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Post by Leorgathar on Jun 5, 2015 3:44:09 GMT
Whoa, so you're dealing with such a huge voltage, amazing! The gif doesn't seem to be working for me, though ><
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Post by Hypercube on Jun 5, 2015 15:52:45 GMT
Whoops! I must have copied the wrong URL; it should be working now =3
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Post by Leorgathar on Jun 5, 2015 17:46:32 GMT
Ah, I can see it now. And whoa, that looks so cool! and so dangerous xD
*Ignores the warning and tries to do it at home* BZZZT *dies* ><
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Post by Pulsar on Jun 5, 2015 20:19:14 GMT
I'll be honest, I read magnets and gun and am convinced you're making a railgun. Is that what they do at summer camps these days? my how things have come a long way.
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Post by Hypercube on Jun 5, 2015 22:10:38 GMT
I originally wanted to a railgun but it would require a LOT more current than I was willing to put through a coil the size I would have needed. The rail gun actually has a part of it that has current running through it that provides the thrust to the projectile. In this case the projectile has no current through it but instead fires due to its own magnetic properties. Theoretically you could make a coil gun with anything that has ferromagnetic properties, even if it does directly produce a magnetic field. Using a magnet though makes it reasonably stronger.
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