Available student project - Design a rail gun to operate in vacuum producing a force of 1mN

Research fields

Project details

Rail guns have been demonstrated recently that can accelerate small (less than 1kG) projectiles to velocities approaching 3 kilometres per second. Unfortunately this requires currents of mega-amperes and there are considerable problems with the friction of the projectile travelling along the rails. This project will test a small system capable of producing a force of 1milli-Newton in a vacuum system of 1 metre in length. 

Project suitability

This research project can be tailored to suit students of the following type(s)

Contact supervisor

Boswell, Roderick profile