| So I don't know about you guys but seeing a coin exploding cars and trucks seems really cool. And it really is! But sadly, anyone with a little knowledge on firearms and weapon systems know that coin is far too under powered to cause a burning streak on the ground as it flies. Something the series like to display. Let's look at her rated performance with the coin. -Misaka's railgun with coins- Projectile speed: 1030m./s = mach 3 Range: 50m Coin size: roughly an inch at best? Now most firearms actually fall short of her railgun's caliber size and projectile speed. But in terms of muzzle velocity, only by a little. For example, the M16 has a muzzle velocity of 943m/s. Less than 60m/s slower. The performance should not be much different. But wait the size of the coin is much bigger! Well I got another example. The German 120mm L/55 tank gun. Firing Sabot rounds that reach up to 1750m/s which is equal to mach 5, or should we say hypersonic speeds. The APFSDS sub-caliber round is 27mm, slightly larger than an inch. YET we do not see a burning streak across the ground. Nor does it explode trucks and cars. It just goes right through, but not burst the vehicle. You know what can make things explode by sheer speed? A real railgun, which has a muzzle velocity of over mach 8. So the question is what would be the real performance of her famed railgun? Probably somewhere similar to a 20mm autocannon round except with a accuracy that of a smoothbore musket. Blackpowder muskets are accurate up 100m using ball rounds. Now to achieve accuracy, you need either a round projectile OR you give the projectile a spin. faster spin rate, more accurate it is. For a coin, with no spin and not even sphere shaped, it will just fling around worse than that of a musket. Luckily, I'm being generous and let the higher muzzle velocity make it up and give it a comparable accuracy to that of a Musket. Should also mention it would only feel like a 20mm against soft targets. Due to the fact a coin has literally no penetrative capability, against anything armored, it will just deform and break. So despite the fact APC are vulnerable to 20mm fire, her railgun won't do anything to it. And with her reload speed of 8 rounds a minute, comparable to a trained musketeer, back to line formation she goes. So what you should be seeing in the anime is the Misaka sisters lining up in a tightly packed line. Aiming and firing all at once in volleys hoping one of their railgun hits. |
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| Science makes my brain explode. So I'll just focus on the last paragraph: "So what you should be seeing in the anime is the Misaka sisters lining up in a tightly packed line. Aiming and firing all at once in volleys hoping one of their railgun hits." I'm assuming you're talking about the Sisters arc. Firstly, the Sisters aren't powerful enough to use the Railgun, they're level 3's. Secondly, they're meant to fight Accelerator 1 on 1 (the whole purpose of the plan is to get Accel to level 6, not to kill him. Although the Sisters are meant to come at him intending to kill...) Only being able to refute the bits about the actual story instead of the science stuff makes me feel pretty stupid. oh well. |
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| The last part was just a joke to emphasize on her accuracy. I know the sisters are far too weak. Though reasonably, any one with enough electrical power can propel an object following the same principal. Might not be as powerful, but logically, even the Sisters can do it. But what I mean is that Misaka would be far too inaccurate to hit anything unless there is somehow multiple versions of her of equal level firing in volleys. I'm also trying to point out that her railgun is not much more powerful than that of a 20mm autocannon. The series show her railgun off as if it was some large caliber weapon. though the series like to claim that the coin limits her ability, it doesn't really make much difference rather she launches a different object. Most object she can get her hand on would not be aerodynamic and miss, too soft of a material to go against armor or break up upon such high G forces. Assuming that she can accelerate an object to remotely near real-life speeds. |
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| The burning streak is only for effects, I think. In reality it wouldn't do that. Regarding the projectile velocity, you're missing an important thing. Normal ammunition can't be faster than the expanding propellant, which is normally the sonic speed in the particular gas. Muzzle velocity is not the actual velocity of the projectile. Electromagnetic weapons are not limited by that. The discharge velocity is only subjected to aerodynamic limits, therefore a projectile can reach higher speeds and the destructive capabilities are much greater. As for the aiming, I don't know. But she only fires forward and her targets are usually quite big, so they can't be really missed. Plus, like I said, the destructive capabilities are greater, therefore she won't have to hit exactly, the target will be destroyed or damaged either way. And her coin doesn't need penetrative capabilities. The kinetic energy increases with the square of the velocity. The sheer impact will destroy most things. Edit: Her coin never lets cars or trucks explode. At least I can't remember anything like that. |
TheBigGuyMay 14, 2016 7:44 PM
| You're a louse, Roger Smith. - R. Dorothy Wayneright This is my fight! No Senpai, this is our fight! - Kojou Akatsuki & Yukina Himeragi  |
| The mass of a quarter is 5.67 grams, which is slightly higher than a bullet in a 5.56mmx45 NATO cartridge (4g). At the velocity of 1030 m/s, simply propelling the coin imparts the kinetic energy close to a rifle shot, 3008 joules (versus 1767 joules for a 5.56x45mm NATO round or 3469 joules for a 7.62×51mm NATO round. If we want to play by the author's rules though, it's still possible for her railgun to be quite powerful. We shouldn't forget that she is artificially generating electromagnetic rails, and is thus converting the air around the coin into plasma, Plasma is creating by superheating a gas and/or subjecting it to an electromagnetic field. The heat of the plasma would sublimate the coin into gas (which would then too turn into plasma). A jet of plasma traveling at 1030 m/s is pretty destructive. I think it gets a lot more interesting (and consistent with the supposed strength of her ability) when you change her railgun's velocity to fractional light velocities. If we say that she can instead launch a coin at .0002c (2/10000ths the velocity of the speed of light, or 59958 m/s, that coin now imparts a kinetic energy of 10.35 Megajoules. This is equivalent to slightly over 2 kilograms of TNT. |
TheKillerAngelJun 7, 2016 10:53 PM
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| Muzzle velocity is the velocity of the projectile... As the name implies it's the speed when it leaves the barrel. It will slow down due to aerodynamics but same applies to her coin. In fact that much more due to the shape of her coin. So no her destuctive capabilities would still be limited. In the first episode of railgun I think you can see her wreck the car of bankrobbers. Then she also wreck mechs that according to the wikia can take RPG fire. As for rotational force. For stability, you need to spin on the roll axis. In the anime you can see it is spinning on the pitch axis which is undesirable. So her accuracy will still probably be as crap as a musket. As for the energy. Yes I did admit her coin would be more destuctive than most small arms, most of the examples I have given. However the destuctive capacity does not justify the level in which the anime depicted it. Raw kinetic energy is very destructive indeed. But generally only against soft targets as I have said. By military definition, anything not armored or thinly armored are soft targets. That means cars, not just humans. Generaly APC can also be considered soft targets though I still doubt her railgun's abilities against such target. Armored material can take raw energy much better. Which is why quality non-brittle metal can take HE rounds very well. 75mm HE has a lot more energy than her railgun yet even 40mm of RHA can withstand that. But a round made of hard and dense material can go through. The weaker material will give way to the stronger upon impact. So her coin will give way against most material. Also having plasma around the coin is not a good thing even if it means more energy. The coin will likely get soft as it reaches melting point. Coins are generaly made of metal with low melting point. As it gets soft it also loses penetration and lethality on most solids. A jet of plasma is destructive. But it lacks a solid body to penetrate or transfer sufficient energy deep enough to destroy the target via spalling, penetration or otherwise structural damage. Plasma is not as destructive as the media like to portray. When talking about destructive capacity, i refer to large solid objects like buildings or vehicles. Generally vehicles since the anime have her encounter them every so often like mechs and getaway vans. I don't mean humans since they are rather squishy to a lot of things. Though they can survive a lot. Low defense but lots of endurance. So while that may increase potency against flesh taregts, you have also pointed out that with only acceleration, it can only reach up to a rifle level destructiveness which makes no sense in her flipping cars around. While you also mentioned a velocity more consistent with her strengths, it is impossible to achieve with a mere coin. The author simply have no idea what he is doing is my only conclusion if he give her that velocity then turn around and let her achieve those feats. |
zcv45Jun 30, 2016 8:05 PM
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