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4hv.org :: Forums :: Chemistry
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Speed Limit of GunPowder.

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Ama
Sun Mar 08 2009, 07:34PM Print
Ama Registered Member #1852 Joined: Mon Dec 08 2008, 09:54PM
Location:
Posts: 12
Some time ago, I was reading a book inwhich the writer clamed that there is a mathematical solution for max speed limit given to a bullet (a simple one!), by gunpowder (dont remember,maybe 1.5km/s), so any ideas where to find it/what it might be?
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Bored Chemist
Sun Mar 08 2009, 07:41PM
Bored Chemist Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
It's usually somewhere between difficult and impossible to get the projectile to move faster than the molecules of the hot gas pushing it. Typical gas molecules are traveling at roughly the speed of sound in the gas so that puts a limit on the muzzle velocity of a few times the speed of sound. Because the gas is hot the molecules are moving faster than normal air. If it's at 1000 C then it's roughly 4 times hoter than ordinary air so the speed of sound would be roughly twice the speed of sound in air and that's about 1500 miles an hour.
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big5824
Sun Mar 08 2009, 09:58PM
big5824 Registered Member #1687 Joined: Tue Sept 09 2008, 08:47PM
Location: UK, Darlington
Posts: 240
i think with the best explosives we have the limit is around 6km/s (cant remember where i read that)
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Bored Chemist
Mon Mar 09 2009, 06:44AM
Bored Chemist Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
That's about right for the VoD but not the speed of the bullet.
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hotcrazyfruit
Mon Mar 09 2009, 11:09PM
hotcrazyfruit banned on 5/26/2009
Registered Member #1877 Joined: Mon Dec 22 2008, 02:03AM
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Posts: 147
the expansion rate of the gunpowder, is not nessisarily the limiting factor, while the expansion rate is about 800m/s i believe, many guns shoot MUCH faster than this. the simple solution is MORE, with a smaller caliber. the smaller caliber not only makes for a generally lighter projectile, but also a smaller hole for the gas to move through, creating high muzzle velocity's due to increased pressure. there are many other factors as well, just wikipedia'it
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Bored Chemist
Tue Mar 10 2009, 06:47AM
Bored Chemist Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
Without some clever tricks there's a clear limit. If the bullet is moving faster than the molecules of the gas then they cannot catch it up to push on it. That limits things, as I said, to a bit faster than mach 1.
Incidentally, this is physics rather than chenistry.
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Backyard Skunkworks
Wed Mar 11 2009, 06:47PM
Backyard Skunkworks Registered Member #1262 Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 05:22AM
Location: Maryland, USA
Posts: 451
big5824 wrote ...

i think with the best explosives we have the limit is around 6km/s (cant remember where i read that)

Actually...

HMX: 9.1km/s Link2
RDX: 8.75 km/s Link2
PETN: 8.4 km/s Link2

...a few high explosives do have velocities in excess of 6 km/s, especially nitroamines.
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hotcrazyfruit
Fri Mar 13 2009, 10:47PM
hotcrazyfruit banned on 5/26/2009
Registered Member #1877 Joined: Mon Dec 22 2008, 02:03AM
Location:
Posts: 147
Bored Chemist wrote ...

Without some clever tricks there's a clear limit. If the bullet is moving faster than the molecules of the gas then they cannot catch it up to push on it. That limits things, as I said, to a bit faster than mach 1.
Incidentally, this is physics rather than chenistry.
which is where you add MORE, thus increasing the pressure. and increasing the speed of the molecules. to take full advantage of this though, you need a longer barrel, so the pressure has more time to increase the velocity, and expand.
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Bored Chemist
Sat Mar 14 2009, 12:11AM
Bored Chemist Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
hotcrazyfruit wrote ...

Bored Chemist wrote ...

Without some clever tricks there's a clear limit. If the bullet is moving faster than the molecules of the gas then they cannot catch it up to push on it. That limits things, as I said, to a bit faster than mach 1.
Incidentally, this is physics rather than chenistry.
which is where you add MORE, thus increasing the pressure. and increasing the speed of the molecules. to take full advantage of this though, you need a longer barrel, so the pressure has more time to increase the velocity, and expand.

Thankyou for sharing that.
Pity the designers of the "supergun" didn't follow your lead,
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hotcrazyfruit
Sat Mar 14 2009, 12:07PM
hotcrazyfruit banned on 5/26/2009
Registered Member #1877 Joined: Mon Dec 22 2008, 02:03AM
Location:
Posts: 147
Bored Chemist wrote ...

hotcrazyfruit wrote ...

Bored Chemist wrote ...

Without some clever tricks there's a clear limit. If the bullet is moving faster than the molecules of the gas then they cannot catch it up to push on it. That limits things, as I said, to a bit faster than mach 1.
Incidentally, this is physics rather than chenistry.
which is where you add MORE, thus increasing the pressure. and increasing the speed of the molecules. to take full advantage of this though, you need a longer barrel, so the pressure has more time to increase the velocity, and expand.

Thankyou for sharing that.
Pity the designers of the "supergun" didn't follow your lead,

i hope your not being sarcastic :) if you arent , thanks XD
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