Fastest Gun In World
Developed At Sandia
By Robert Uhlig - Technology Correspondent
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
2-27-1


A Gun that fires coin-size pellets 10 times faster than a bullet has been
developed in America.

The Z accelerator could fire a pellet from London to Edinburgh in 26
seconds, or from London to New York in four and a half minutes. It is
outpaced only by a nuclear explosion.

It has been nicknamed the "fastest gun in the West". Marcus Knudson, who led
the project to develop the Z accelerator at Sandia, an American nuclear
laboratory, said that description was an understatement. "It's the fastest
gun in the world."

The aluminium plates it fires move so fast that the air resistance turns
them to liquid, heating them to 2,700C, and forcing Dr Knudson to look at
other materials, such as titanium and copper.

It has been used only to examine the effect of high-velocity projectile
impacts over a distance of a few feet, but the technology is being
considered as an alternative to launching spacecraft. A more mobile version
could be a "hyper velocity" weapon, piercing thicker armour than any used in
battle, Dr Knudson added.

The accelerator's vacuum chamber is the most powerful producer of electrical
discharge on Earth. It uses 20,000 amps to develop a magnetic field that
accelerates pellets up to 45,000 mph in 200 billionths of a second, three
times faster than the speed needed to escape Earth's gravitational pull.

Dr Knudson is using data from the accelerator to simulate the effect of
space junk colliding with a satellite or space station travelling in the
opposite direction. This will help scientists to balance lightness with
strength in satellite and observatory shells. It is also being used to find
out how materials react to high pressures and temperatures.
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Associated Press

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