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I am a big Halo contributer. I like halo. I dislike 343 Guilty Spark, I like the Master Chief and Johnson. My family has issues, and my younger brother is under the impression the Xbox and the Xbox 360 make toast. TOAST! And I finally got my 10 year old brother, I like Pie to join Halopedia. I live by simple sayings, such as "When you are a soldier, you can be in one of two places: a safe place or a dangerous place. If you're in a safe place, don't worry. If you're in a dangerous place, you can be one of two things: One is wounded and the other is not. If you're not wounded, don't worry. If you are wounded, it can be dangerous or slight. If its slight, don't worry. If its dangerous, then one of two things will happen: You'll die or you'll recover. If you recover, don't worry. If you die, you can't worry. In these circumstances, a soldier never worries." -British Philosopher. Sorced from "Horrible Historys: The frightful First World WarMore By SPARTAN-118
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The Australian (and anyone else who cares) guide to MAC Cannons-How they work and what they do
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Hello! My name is SPARTAN-118 an I am here today to explain MAC Cannons. Firstly, let me point out that this is a widly misunderstood topic. Lets clear the slate and begin from the beginning. Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, also known as coilguns, are really long tubes with supermagnets that pull a 600-ton ferric-tungsten or depleted uranium slug down that tube to a speed of about 0.04 of the speed of light with enough force to punch right through a heck of alot of stuff. To understand more, refer to this image:
. The M68 Gauss Cannon is an miniturized version of the MAC Cannon. In more detail, the following is how MAC Cannons work. The 600-ton ferric-tungsten or depleted uranium slug is loaded into the chamber. The chamber is shut. The supermagnets in the really long tube are given a electical current and the slug is pulled foward, gaining more and more speed, until it leaves the tube and flies towards the target. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. There are many challanges to such a system. For example, the supermagnets would mess up any electrical equipment around it so several layers of Lead Foil woul be needed. Another problem would be the ammo. The ammo is quite heavy, around 600 tons and Super MAC Cannons have even havier ammo, at around 3000 tons! Big, isn't it? There are probably stronger and weaker MAC guns, depending on the ship. For example, a Frigate probably has weaker MAC guns than a Destroyer or a Cruiser. So the weight of the ammo would be diffrent. Another rather large problem is the power required to fire the guns. The reactors of, say, a cruiser, are very powerful. They are designed to manuver a 100,000 ton vessel. They are also needed to charge the 3 powerful MAC guns. The charge needed to charge one, let alone 3, is extremely large. If you have read the Halo books, you will see what I mean by the length of time it take to charge a MAC gun from the deck of a Frigate, a Destroyer and a Cruiser. Starting on a new topic, some people are under the impression that MAC slugs are guided. This is wrong. MAC slugs are 'dumb' ordinence, meaning they are unguided. Also, going off topic for a second, Archer missles are guided and are not nuclear. Back to the subject, the speed the MAC rounds reach determine on the type. The usual type, the regular MAC rounds are propelled to a speed of "point zero one" or 0.01% of the speed of light. Super MAC rounds are acclerated to a speed of "point zero four" or 0.04% of the the speed of light. So, in a nutshell, it will cause a heck of a lot of damage should one hit you. Futhermore, I don't think I have anything else to add. Thank you for reading this article. If you think I have missed anything, please contact me at my user page. Thank you, have a good day. SPARTAN-118
