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I'm making a small solenoid canon. Can you give me advice?
For a school project, I'm making a solenoid cannon that can launch a tennis ball. I'm doing this by wrapping coils around a PVC pipe big enough for the ball. Since the ball is non-magnetic, I figure I'll have a magnetic projectile behind the ball that pushes it, treating the ball as a load. I'm thinking the power source for my solenoid will be multiple 6-volt batteries wired in series.
So, question 1: should this projectile be a bar magnet, or is it okay to use a non-magnetized ferrous material?
I already have a set length for the canon, and I also know what the velocity of the ball needs to be when exiting the canon. Knowing these factors, I can easily calculate the magnitude of force needed inside the solenoid.
For question 2, what kind of formula can I use to find the amount of current/coils I need in my solenoid to get my required force?
Bonus question: Do you have any more advice for my project?
1 Answer
- DaveLv 48 years agoFavorite Answer
You will never get enough force to launch a tennis ball this way. The thing to do is to get an ordinary 12V solenoid (complete with plunger) and connect it to a lever arm. This arm will fling the ball, and can be powered by a car battery.
The problem with your design is that it uses an open magnetic circuit, which is very inefficient. A solenoid uses a closed magnetic circuit. You would need a colossal capacitor bank to power it, a few 6V batteries will not cut it!
The attached solenoid gives 20lb force with a one inch throw. You might want to use a couple of them in parallel.