How Gun Silencer work.

How Gun Silencer works.-

Think back to playing GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo64. What a great game right? In each mission you start out with Bond’siconic Walther PPK with a silencer on it. The silencer suppresses the sound of the gunso that you can remain in stealth mode. You can shoot enemies who have no idea whereyou are because your gun is practically silent. The only sound the silenced Walther PPK makesis a slight thwip. Unfortunately, real life is not like videogames. Silencers in the real world are slightly louderthan James Bond’s gun in the movies and video games. Let’s imagine a scenario that requires stealthand precision. It is a highly sensitive mission to eliminatea terrorist cell. A special forces squad is sent into an enemybase to eliminate a key target. The squad needs to infiltrate the base anddeal with the threat as quietly as possible. Silence is key. The squad wants to reduce the risk of theterrorists calling for reinforcements. The only way to do this is using silencedweapons. The special forces team enters the enemy baseusing night vision goggles to make their way in the dark. Their pistols and rifles are equipped withsilencers. As they eliminate each enemy the sound oftheir weapons is so quiet that it sounds like a gentle breeze. Enemies who are in the next building cannothear the soldiers coming until it is too late. An enemy transport truck full of troops appearson the horizon. It must be stopped. Luckily a second squad with a .50 caliberheavy machine gun is mounted on the roof of a nearby building. They open up and unleash a barrage of bulletson the enemy truck. Usually the heavy machine gun would createenough sound to wake the dead, but this gun has been equipped with a silencer. The enemies in the transport are mowed downand will cause no problems to the mission. The reduction of sound from the silencer ensuresthat the enemies in the base have no idea that their comrades have been taken out. Then suddenly an enemy tank starts headingtowards the base the special forces squad is located in. Luckily the military planned for this. On a hill overlooking the area sits an artillerycannon. 

It is equipped with a newly invented artillerysilencer. The cannon fires its explosive shells at thetank. It is a direct hit. The tank explodes in flames and enemy soldiersrush towards the tank and away from the special forces squad in the base. The enemy can’t figure out where the artilleryis located because the silencer has reduced the sound and muzzle flash of the cannon. The enemy is neutralized. The mission is a success. The soldiers head back to base. There were no casualties because of the stealthinessof the mission. The target was eliminated and no enemy reinforcementswere called. Silencers ensured the mission was carriedout smoothly. They allowed the soldiers to work withoutthe enemy knowing that they were even there. Is this scenario possible? Could all of the weapons in this mission beequipped with silencers? The answer is yes. Let’s explore how the military is usingsilencers and how they work. There are numerous different manufacturersof silencers, but all follow the same principle. A silencer must contain and slowly releasethe gas and pressure of a fired bullet. Before we can discuss how the silencer itselfactually works, we need to talk about science. Stay with us, this will be relatively painless. The reason that a gun makes such a loud noisewhen fired is because of the releasing of high pressure gas that has built up behinda bullet. 

This gas is released from the narrow barrelof the gun into the wide open air in an instant. Think of it like a bottle of champagne. The bottle is pressurized and the cork iskeeping all of the pressure in the bottle. When the cork is pulled off, the air pressureinside the bottle is instantly released creating ripples in the air, which we hear as a “pop.” The same thing happens when a bullet leavesthe barrel of a gun. In order to shoot a bullet, a huge amountof force is needed. This force is generated by the ignition ofgunpowder which causes an enormous pressure build up behind the bullet. To release the pressure the bullet is propelledout of the gun. A gun uses around 3,000 pounds per squareinch of pressure to shoot a bullet. All of the pressure is released into the airafter the bullet is ejected from the barrel causing waves that we hear as sound to shootout in all directions. At the most basic level the silencer takesall of the pressure behind the bullet and allows it to expand in a contained environment. If the pressure is allowed to expand, butkept within the silencer, then the sound waves that would be created are also contained. Alright the science part is over, let’stalk about the different components of a silencer. 

A silencer is typically screwed onto the barrelof a gun and has a relatively large volume compared to the barrel. It is usually around 20 or 30 times largerthan the barrel of the gun itself. This allows the pressurized gas behind thebullet to expand, but does not allow it to propagate away from the gun in the form ofsound waves. The pressure is still there and does get released,but it is only about 60 psi after passing through the silencer. This creates a much quieter gun shot becauseless intense sound waves are created. There is still a sound from the smaller pressurebeing released, but it is nowhere near as loud as a gun without a silencer. It would be impossible to silence a gun completelybecause the silencer would have to be massive. For this to happen the silencer would haveto be large enough to allow the gas to be depressurized completely before entering theair. It would be like having a silencer the sizeof a refrigerator on the end of your gun. The laws of physics will never allow a gunto be completely silent because of the sonic boom from the bullet. 

a bullet moves faster than the speedof sound it creates a sonic boom. It is the same principle as when fighter jetsbreak the sound barrier. This means that because of the laws of physics,a sonic boom will occur once the bullet passes Mach 1. There is no way to stop the sonic boom ofa bullet unless you can break the laws of physics. We do not recommend doing this, as it couldcreate a singularity and destroy the planet. Silencers are made of strong metal that canwithstand high pressures and heat. The silencer works in two steps. When the gun is fired the bullet passes throughthe barrel and silencer. In step one the silencer captures the gasfrom the explosion of gunpowder and displaces the gas into the larger volume of the silencer. This reduces pressure. The silencer then restricts the flow of thegas out of the muzzle, so the pressurized gas is released slowly and with minimal noise. Silencers work great for pistols, like JamesBond’s Walther PPK, and rifles. But what about heavy machine guns? The Navy is currently looking into silencersfor their M2A1 heavy machine gun. The M2 line of guns, also known as “Ma Deuce,”have been used in various stages of combat since the 1930’s. They are used as an aerial support weaponon aircrafts, defense guns on naval vessels, and mounted heavy machine guns for infantry. Needless to say the M2A1 is a versatile andpowerful weapon. If the M2A1 could be silenced it could beused for a variety of new missions.

it fires .50 caliber rounds the gunmakes a lot of noise. The large bullets require huge amounts ofpressure to be fired. The more pressure, the louder the sound wavesare that leave the barrel. The military wants a silencer that can lowerthe decibel level and muzzle flash of the M2A1. However, they have made it clear that thesilencer can not reduce the cyclic rate of the gun, which is around 450 to 600 roundsper minute. As of right now the military is prototypingdifferent silencers to equip on their heavy machine guns, but they have not chosen oneas of yet. One of the silencers that the military hasbeen testing is created by Delta P Design. They made a .50 caliber silencer using a 3Dprinting method. This could be beneficial for the military,because if a base needs more silencers all they need to do is print them using a 3D printer. Printing the silencers rather than puttingin an order and waiting for them to be shipped halfway around the world would be much moreefficient. This seems futuristic, but we have the technologyto do it right now. The Marines have been interested in usingmore silencers in past years. As the technology has become better and morecost effective it is being considered for missions. In 2017 a squad of marines made history bybeing the first company to be equipped entirely with silenced small arms and machine guns. The U.S. Army has also been experimentingwith silencers, except theirs are much larger. They have been prototyping silencers for boththeir 105 mm and 120 mm artillery guns. The artillery itself is tested around theChesapeake Bay. Nearby communities have been negatively affectedby the loud noises these artillery guns make when fired. So the Army decided to incorporate silencersinto its artillery testing for two reasons. The first reason is to reduce the noise ofthe cannons to provide a tactical advantage. The second reason is to reduce the noise ofthe cannons to cause less disruptions for the Chesapeake Bay residents. 

width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webpCredit: Business Insider). They are lifted into position using steelscaffolding and tilted to the correct elevation. The silencer itself is made out of reinforcedsteel to withstand the incredible pressure and superheated gasses released by the cannon. It does not actually attach to the barrellike with a pistol, because during recoil it could harm the turret. This could have disastrous consequences, suchas the shell impacting the side of the barrel and exploding before it is ejected. There have been leaked documents showing militaryinterest in a silencer patent for tanks. This silencer would attach to the muzzle ofthe tank, so the vehicle could stay mobile. The holes on both artillery and tank suppressorsmust be kept as small as possible to reduce the decibel level of the shot. The total cost of the current artillery silenceris around $100,000. The military sees this high cost as acceptable,since the artillery silencer reduces the noise of a fired shell by as much as 20 decibels. This is the difference between a running blenderand listening to your television at a normal volume. Silencers are used by the military to suppressthe sound waves of bullets when fired. This can be vital to maintain stealth duringa mission. Silencers also keep tactical positions ofsoldiers and artillery hidden by reducing muzzle flash. Although silencers aren’t as quiet as videogames make them out to be, they do reduce the sound of weapons a significant amount. There is no way to stop a bullet from creatinga sonic boom, so when firing a gun there will always be some noise. 

containment and slow release of pressurizedgas is the way that silencers take the deafening roar of a gun and make it only slightly louderthan James Bond’s Walther PPK in the movies.