About Gauss Guns
The gauss gun, otherwise known as the coilgun, is a projector accelerator that uses one or more electromagnetic coils and a ferromagnetic projectile placed at one of the ends. At its basic form, the coilgun is a solenoid: an electromagnetic coil that draws the ferromagnetic object through the middle. Due to the large current going through the wire, a magnetic field forms with pulls the projectile out from the center. Generally, a battery or some kind of voltage capacitor is used to power the gun. Unfortunately, there are still many limitations for the coilgun. One of the major problems is the rate that the magnetic object becomes fully saturated in the magnetic field and the rate at which it loses said saturation. Basically what this means is that there's a limit to the amount of force that the ferromagnetic object has. Although there are more complicated gauss guns, you can actually make your own at home with a couple materials:
1.
Neodymium Magnets
2. Steel ball bearings
3. Plastic channel/track
Instructions:
1. Place the magnets on the track and four or five bearings in a line touching one side of the magnet.
2. Place one more ball bearing on the opposite side of the magnets, far away enough that it isn't pulled toward the magnets
3. When you are ready to fire, nudge the single ball so it rolls slowly toward the magnets.
4. You can set several of these balls as a chain; each one will fire the next with increasing speed.