Guns in Space

[airbolt]

In the TV series Battlestar Galactica ( new ) the fighters escorting the fleet use conventional cannons against attacking craft. In one scene the crew load cannon shells into the fighter in the hangar.

However, in another SF series ( Firefly ) a sharpshooter clad in a space suit has to wrap his rifle in another suit before firing it !

I'm confused? Do conventional guns work in a vacuum or not?

[Buenchico]

As long as the chemical reaction, involved in the explosion which propels the bullet (or other missile) doesn't require the presence of oxygen (or any other gases) in air, there's no reason why a gun shouldn't work in a vacuum.

Gunpowder will explode without air. (I can guarantee that. When I was a teenager we used to build dams in a local stream, light bangers and then place them, underwater, to blow up the dams. The bangers still exploded underwater). Most other propellants which might be used, in a SF situation, also work whether or not air is present. (However, that's not true of all explosive substances. Your car engine runs because of repeated explosions of a petrol/air mix. An internal combustion engine wouldn't work in a vacuum).

So, it's likely that any SF gun would work in a vacuum.

Incidentally, if you read the 'Gunpowder' section, here:
http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/cannon.htm
you'll see that Captain Kirk doesn't know how to make the stuff ;-)

Chris

[Teddio]

Conventional guns work by a firing pin striking a percussion cap. The primary explosion sets off a secondary explosion in a mass of smokeless powder. (eg. nitrocellulose)
The expanding high pressure gas forces the bullet or shell out of the gun barrel. A gun should work better in a vacuum since there is no air to retard the projectile. The muzzle velocity and range will be much higher.

[markja]

watch out neil armstrong !!!