- #1
diabloizzle
- 5
- 0
Hello all! I just registered on physics forums and already have many questions!
First of all (lets start with just one) my friend and i are attempting to build a homemade railgun. We are tying to make it completely by ourselves - nothing bought besides the materials needed. Since massive ammounts of power was the first problem we ran into - almost instantly - i was hoping i could find some help here.
We are stuck trying to store very large amounts of power in a capicitor that will release it all almost instantaneously. We understand the basic concept of a capacitor and have been playing around with aluminum foil and ceran wrap in the kitchen and have gotten a whopping .4 volts and 35 some amps. Does anybody have any suggestions on what materials to use (thicker metal, denser, or just greater area?) or on the optimal power source (such as DC vs AC and what to charge capacitor with)? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
~diabloizzle
p.s. we are tying to make a railgun that has some legitimate range...not just a couple of feet - so when i say power, i mean UNLIMETED...POWAAA! (star wars reference...sorry)
First of all (lets start with just one) my friend and i are attempting to build a homemade railgun. We are tying to make it completely by ourselves - nothing bought besides the materials needed. Since massive ammounts of power was the first problem we ran into - almost instantly - i was hoping i could find some help here.
We are stuck trying to store very large amounts of power in a capicitor that will release it all almost instantaneously. We understand the basic concept of a capacitor and have been playing around with aluminum foil and ceran wrap in the kitchen and have gotten a whopping .4 volts and 35 some amps. Does anybody have any suggestions on what materials to use (thicker metal, denser, or just greater area?) or on the optimal power source (such as DC vs AC and what to charge capacitor with)? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
~diabloizzle
p.s. we are tying to make a railgun that has some legitimate range...not just a couple of feet - so when i say power, i mean UNLIMETED...POWAAA! (star wars reference...sorry)