Project: Angry Straw (tiny rail gun)

Time Period: 8 PM – 8:45 PM March 15th, 2006

Description: To successfully create a very small “rail gun” which uses electromagnetism to propel ammo out of a straw.Here are the materials I used (the McDonalds is not necessary, but recommended).

I have magnetic wire from RadioShack, a straw from McDonalds, a cheap _FLASH_ disposable camera from Target, and some steel BBs.

Now take the magentic wire and wrap it around and around the straw. I AM NOT DONE HERE! You want it to be really thick, probably 1/4 of an inch thick coming off from the straw (I did it wrong the first time).

Now dig into that camera like it’s your job. Break everything but the little circuit board in there. See that big black thing? I SAID SEE IT NOT TOUCH IT IT’S FUCKING ANGRY. Anyway that’s our capacitor and that’s what’s going to be providing us with our pretty spark and magnetic field.

Now, connect one end of your wire to one of the connectors on the capacitor. Take a steel BB and position it (using non-conductive material) in the straw right as your wire coil is beginning. Charge up the capacitor by pressing whatever the flash charge button push down on the board. After it’s fully charged touch the end of the wire to the other connector and your BB should shoot out of the straw in a glorious display of Guass goodness.

This is my final version. The BB’s hit the ceiling pretty well but I’m sure the design can be improved (higher guage maybe?). I will play with it later.