Electromagnetic Dart Launcher

A project worked on with members of the on campus organization, House of General Science. Each year the project is ultimately presented at RIT Imagine.

The device operates like a rail gun at a lower power. A current is sent through the coil forming a dipole moment within the coil. When the device is powered a magnetic field is formed from one side of the coil to the other and back. When a steel dart is placed inside this field it becomes magnetized, causing it to be pulled to the opposite end of the coil. Once there the magnetic force pushes the dart out and away such that it accelerates out of the launcher.