Mass Drivers As Weapons
Small to moderate size high-acceleration electromagnetic projectile launchers are currently undergoing active research by the military for use as ground-based or ship-based weapons (most often railguns but coilguns in some cases). On larger scale than weapons currently near deployment but sometimes suggested in long-range future projections, a sufficiently high velocity linear motor, a mass driver, could in principle be used as intercontinental artillery (or, if built on the Moon or in orbit, used to attack a location on Earth's surface). As the mass driver would be located further up the gravity well than the theoretical targets, it would enjoy a significant energy imbalance in terms of counter-attack.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)