A question about a two-stage light gas gun technology

[abdalrahman_azab]

Hello .... I had a question about the capabilities of the two-stage light gas guns which are used to study the effect of small meteors on spacecraft shields .... is it theoretically possible to achieve velocity above 7 km / s for a projectile of about 16 grams weight and 15 mm diameter using a gun With total length 15 to 10 meters - 10 meters excluding the launch tube and 12.5 meters including the launch tube, 15 meters including the control room for example - I think this is practically impossible Is this possible?... I would like a clarification on the length of the pump tube needed in this case and the amount of propellant ... Thank you.

[MadelineB]

Hello,

The Ask the Expert forums are for students in grades K-12 and their parents and teachers who are doing hands on science projects. If you are a student in those grades and planning to do a hands-on science project, please provide more detail including your hypothesis and the experiments you are planning. Otherwise, there are other sites on the internet where your question would be more appropriate.

Thank you,
Madeline
Moderator

[abdalrahman_azab]

Hello

We - as a team - are preparing a research paper on the two stage light gas gun in as part of a local initiative in my country to encourage scientific ideas for the secondary stage ... We are now studying the specifications of some well-known types such as "Ames 0.5" which is used by many research centers in this field ... We are looking into the possibility of designing a small model that can be provided for school laboratories to study high speeds. We want to have a small length for the highest speed that can be provided at this size ..... The design stage is still far from our current stage .. My question was about the shortest length of a pump tube sufficient to produce Force pushing a projectile with a diameter of 15 mm and a weight of 16 grams for a speed of 7 kilometers per second .... Certainly, our model will push a projectile with a very small weight not exceeding 2 grams and a diameter of 2 mm for speeds much less than that due to the very small size of the model compared to what the research centers use .... Very few sources talk in detail about this subject .. That is why I asked ....
Thank you very much

[AmyCowen]

It may be that someone here in the forum will offer input, but these forums are designed for students working on K-12 science projects. For projects being done outside of the scope of K-12 education, we suggest you use other online forums where you may find broader assistance.

Amy Cowen
Science Buddies