Recoil

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Introduction

Recoil, and its management, is one of the central issues concerning ballistic weaponry. Every weapon that has the effect of accelerating a projectile experiences recoil as dictated by the conservation of momentum, one of the fundamental principles of physics and laws of nature. Since this subject is touched upon in many other articles, this page is a "quick and dirty" look at the fundamentals of recoil physics, common recoil management strategies of ballistic weaponry, and speculative notes on the recoil of as-yet-to-be-realized weaponry.

Fundamentals of Recoil Physics

As mentioned previously, recoil is a direct result of conservation of momentum. Momentum is the product of mass and velocity vector of an object. A closely related concept is that of impulse, which is derivative (rate of change) of momentum with respect to time, and also the product of the force acting upon an object and the duration it is applied. Conservation of momentum is the observation that, within a closed system, the (vector) sum of all of its constituents remains the same, or in more formal language, is invariant under Galilean transformation under Newtonian physics and Lorentz transformation under relativity. Since for every interaction, the forces acting upon the two objects will always be equal and in opposite directions, and the force will act exactly the same time upon both objects (by definition), if viewed as a system, an interaction cannot create nor destroy momentum, as every change in the momentum of one object is balanced out by an equal change in the opposite direction of another, and thus momentum is conserved.

What this means for ballistic weaponry is that for every meter-per-second added to every kilogram of projectile that is thrown down range by the apparatus of kinematic, the apparatus itself (and its bearer) would be propelled in the opposite direction by the same kilogram-meter-per-second, although it is free to choose to pay it in either currency, mass or velocity. This generalized view on recoil is appropriate in so far as it describes the macroscopic consequence of the "power-level" of ballistic weaponry, but it does not aptly describe the process by which this effect is applied, and thus can miss out on important caveats that is of interest to the science fictional author and audiences.

Recoil for Conventional Guns

(WIP)

Recoil for Electromagnetic Launchers

(WIP)

Recoil for Lasers

(WIP)

Recoil for Particle Beam Weaponries

(WIP)