[Limpet Chicken]

Hey guys, check this out, see what you all think.

http://groups.msn.com/chemistrycorner/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=496&LastModified=4675487817126972436

Have a look at this, some crazy guy is building his own plasma cannon!

[ATMyller]

I think he needs a live insurance before running any tests.

[Donaldson Tan]

I dont think fluorine is suitable. Perhaps sodium or lithiums are better off, due to their relatively inert chemical nature. sodium ion contain lone pairs required for magnetic interaction too.

[Corvettaholic]

I can see a problem with the magnets too. If he really wants to accelerate this stuff, those magnets are going to need some serious juice. What happens to magnetic strength as heat rises? It goes down. Maybe this thing will need liquid nitrogen cooling jackets for the electromagnets.

[Limpet Chicken]

Scheisse! I hadn't even thought of that! I think that cooling will definately bee necessary, and a bank of massive capacitors to power the magnets the thing was originally supposed to be heavy, although handheld, now I guess vehicle mounting is a given due to size and complexity.

Although, maybee a man-portable simple electromagnetic coil acceleratorCOUGH..RAILGUNCOUGH might just be possible if powered from huge capacitors and transformer coils.

[Corvettaholic]

The problem with that is the word "man portable". Ever lugged around some high power caps? Those things ain't light. Vehicle or tripod mount is going to be the way to go. Also getting the coils you need will be ridiculously hard to do at home. Magnetic strength is related to amperage, not voltage. Now what happens with a couple thousand amps in a wire? Its probably going to melt. Also, the more turns in the coil, the stronger the field. Since you'll need thicker wire to hold the high amperage (safely), you won't get as many turns. I mentioned the liquid-nitrogen cooling earlier, which would hopefully keep the wires solid, and the insulation from melting off. If that happens, you got yourself a dead short and a world of trouble when talking about high current.