Pentagon: No more death rays

[Blue Ghost]

It depends on the speed. If we're talking the "theroetically idealized" speeds (i.e. %10 the speed of light), then, assuming the round survives the acceleration, there could very well be some energizing of the air around the muzzle. I don't know for certain, and to be exceedingly candid, I've actually never heard of this phenomena as being a possibility.

I actually did some fairly in depth research for a paper on direct energy weapons, and one of the best sources I came across was a book called "The E Bomb". That combined with one or two websites reccomended here a few years back, gave some interesting insight into the feasability of direct energy.

Supposedly the physics of heating the barrel needs to be overcome, but from what I've read it's more likely the power scaling factor, and hence deployment onto refitted hulls; i.e. FFs and DDs.

 

[Agemegos]

My (no doubt imperfect) understanding of the gauss rifle was that the slug being accelerated by magnetism rather than an explosion gave rise to a push rather than a kick, and hence the recoil was equivalent but more manageable.

I don't think that ought to matter. The recoil force is equal to the muzzle energy divided by the barrel length regardless of whether the force is mechanical or magnetic in nature. The only way to get a long gentle shove is with a very long barrel.