0
$\begingroup$

I was wondering whether overheating of guns could be solved by magnets?

Coming from a country where firearms are pretty much only available for the police, military and criminals, I don't really have much knowledge on actual gun usage, except for what I see in movies and YouTube.

I noticed there are many guns that could shoot loads of bullets per minute, but they can't sustain either due to munition shortage and/or overheating.

That combined with the little I know about fusion reactors, I was wondering something.

In fusion, the heat is contained by not letting the hot plasma touch the sides of the tokamak (or other any other magnetic confinement device).

So I wonder, would it be possible to perfect a barrel in such a way that the bullet could travel through the barrel without touching the sides?

I am not sure what causes the heat, the friction of the bullets with the barrel and/or the hot gasses pushing it out, but would it be possible to confine anything that heats up the barrel (and rest of the gun) with magnets as well?

I guess it would need a lot of precise engineering, and could perhaps work better on larger systems (artillery?).

And not sure, but the magnets would probably also need some electricity (but only for a very short time?) to become more powerful and maybe even speed up the projectile with maglev-like tech? (but only for a short amount of time I guess?)

Hopefully some here can follow my thoughts and tell me why it won't work (else it was probably already used ;) ), or else how we can patent this ASAP :D

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Friction is needed, check out rifling and what it does. $\endgroup$
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jul 15 at 20:38

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

Magnetic fields are used in fusion to contain the hot plasma.

Heat is not magnetic, you can't hold back heat with a magnet. The primary source of heat is the combustion of gunpowder. Nothing about this is subject to a magnetic field.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The explosion creates a gas plasma. The ionized gasses are so energetic that you get visible electromagnetic radiation, aka 'flames'. Ions can be constrained by magnetic fields: that is the basis of magnetic containment of fusion reactions. Magnetic containment of fusion is not a solved problem, and massive superconductor containment systems are not a useful system for guns $\endgroup$
    – david
    Commented Jul 16 at 3:20

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.