A2_8 Big M.A.C.

Abstract

This paper attempts to model the amount of energy transmitted to air by drag when a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, as described by the Halo series of games and books, is red vertically in atmosphere. For a normal MAC gun, the air is heated by 96,000K, enough to cause a column of plasma to form, expanding at Mach 22 in the form of a shockwave. The energy of impact is also found to be 60 kilotons, similar to a low yield nuclear blast. Comparatively the Super MAC is found to create near relativistic shockwaves, with enough energy to cause combustion of the atmosphere (ED = 1.051* 10^18J). The impact would be equivalent to 51 Giga-tons of TNT.