Fundamental Aspects of the Unbalance Condition for the Forces involved in Rail Gun Recoil

Abstract

The forces involved in the firing of the electromagnetic rail gun may be analyzed from Amperian, Maxwellian and Einsteinian approaches. This paper discusses these different paradigms with regard to rail gun performance modeling relating to the generation and balance of the forces caused by the currents and their induced magnetic fields. Recent experimental work on model rail guns, where the armature is held static, shows very little recoil upon the rails, thereby indicating a possible violation of Newton's Third Law of Motion. Dynamic testing to show this violation, as suggested by the authors in an earlier paper, has inherent technical difficulties. A purpose-built finite element C/C++ simulator that models that suspended rail gun firing action shows a net force acting upon the entire rail gun system. A new effect in physics, universal in scope, is thus indicated: a current circulating in an asymmetric and rigid circuit causes a net force to act upon the circuit for the duration of the current. This conclusion following from computer simulation based upon Maxwellian electrodynamics as opposed to the more modern relativistic quantum electrodynamics needs to be supported by unambiguous experimental validation.