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From: FRIEDRITR%GAV.MFENET@LLL-MFE.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Storing electricity for railgun shots
Message-ID: <8601162257.AA16707@s1-b.arpa>
Date: Thu, 16-Jan-86 17:51:00 EST
Article-I.D.: s1-b.8601162257.AA16707
Posted: Thu Jan 16 17:51:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jan-86 00:47:05 EST
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One method (which is used in some fusion reactor experiments) is to use
a spinning rock.  A huge rock (specially shaped and balanced, of course)
is spun up to high RPM over a period of time.  Then, when you need the
shot of electricity, you throw all that angular momentum into spinning
a large generator.  I've seen this done; the rock stops RIGHT NOW, and
your pet project gets a huge jolt of electricity.

No representations as to efficiency, but it was cheaper and easier to
build than a bank of hundreds of thousands of capacitors ...

Terry