Japan Becomes 1st Country Ever To Fire Electromagnetic Railgun From An Offshore Vessel

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 216 points –
eurasiantimes.com

Japan Becomes 1st Country Ever To Fire Electromagnetic Railgun From An Offshore Vessel::Japan has successfully test-fired a medium-caliber maritime electromagnetic railgun from an offshore platform, as it continues to advance its defenses in the face of burgeoning regional security threats.

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That’s a gauss gun, not a railgun. Still cool, though.

Ahhh ok. He'd do them with the capacitors from disposable cameras that the local camera store would give him.

I assumed they were synonyms ? how do they differ ?

They're pretty similar, in that both use electromagnetic forces to launch a projectile.

Gaus cannons use a field around the projectile, applied by wires wrapped around a tube, whereas railguns use two rails touching the projectile to conduct the magnetic field through the projectile.