Page 20 - 15 Dangerously Mad Projects for the Evil Genius

CHAPTER 1

Coil Gun

Since the coil is wrapped around the tube from a
PROJECT SIZE: Medium plastic pen, and the iron projectile is inside the

SKILL LEVEL: ★★★✩ tube, it will fly along the tube towards the coil. As
all the energy from the capacitors will be spent in a
matter of milliseconds, the coil should ideally be
THIS COIL GUN (Figure 1-1) will fire a small metal turned off by the time the projectile passes its
projectile at up to 30 miles per hour. It is portable, center and exits out the other side of the tube.
being powered by batteries, and is guaranteed to
A similar, but less attractive analogy to the coil
strike fear into the enemies of the Evil Genius. On gun is a toilet cistern. In this case, the tank is like
dark evenings, the Evil Genius likes to strap the capacitor, except that it is filled with water
flashlights to the heads of his minions and make rather than charge. The tank charges over a period
them run around the Evil Genius’ Lair while he takes of a few tens of seconds. When the toilet is
potshots at them. Oh, how they squeal in panic! flushed, all the water rushes out.
A coil gun works in a similar way to a The gun is controlled from a single three-
photographic flash gun. Capacitors are charged up position switch. When in its center position, the
over a few seconds, and then all their electrical gun is off. When pushed forward, it starts to charge
energy is released extremely quickly. In a flash and the charging LED comes on. When fully
gun, the energy is released through a flash tube, charged, the LED goes off and the gun is ready for
and in a coil gun it is released into a coil of wire. firing by pulling the switch back like a trigger.
This creates a powerful magnetic field that will
cause any iron object near the coil to move.

Figure 1-1 The coil gun

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