Rail Guns Closer to Reality

emtboy9 writes "Yahoo News is reporting that scientists at Sandia National Labs have created a magnetic pulse gun (rail gun) that can accelerate small aluminum plates at 34 kilometers per second, faster than the Earth travels through space. The accelerated plates strike a target after traveling only five millimeters, or less than a quarter-inch. The impact generates a shock wave -- in some cases, reaching 15 million times atmospheric pressure -- that passes through the target material turning matter into various states almost instantly (solids into liquids, liquids into gas, and even gas into plasma)."

Comments

To what ?

[RedVortex]

34 kilometers per second, faster than the Earth travels through space.

Compared to what, relative to what ? The moon ? Saturn ? Space is quite big you know...

RedVortex

Theory of relativity

[Bifurcati]

It's a minor point, but you need to specify the speed relative to something - in this case, it's the speed of relative to the sun. It's good old relativity - and I'm not talking about general or even special - just good old Galilean relativity! (Which says you can't know whether you're moving, or the object you're watching is moving...)

Must be an engineering student

[nihilogos]

that can accelerate small aluminum plates at 34 kilometers per second

They never get their SI units right.

Acceleration and velocity

[Chris Kamel]

that can accelerate small aluminum plates at 34 kilometers per second
The phrase is just meaningless. Acceleration is measured in distance per time squared units. so it's either kilometer per second squared or accelerates small aluminum plates to speeds of 34 kilometers per second.