Silencers: A Small Accessory Yet The Most Useful In Stealth Operations
Do you know about Silencers, which are used with the modern pistols and rifles? Most of the people are aware of them. These silencers suppress the sound, which is produced during the firing action. But how do these small equipments able to do this? And what is the reason behind the loud sound produced? We will try to know the answers with the help of scientific facts.
Silencers Are Different From What Is Shown In Movies
The very first thing about silencers, which is widely believed that these make the gun soundproof completely. As most of the movies and video games are designed for entertainment purposes, silencers are shown making the guns completely silent. However, it is not true. Silencer does not let the sound to become loud, but it cannot make the process completely silent. The silencer suppresses the sound so that you can fire without letting anyone know at some distance.
Why Silencers Are Required?
In real life scenario, silencers are very helpful. These can decide the outcome of the mission, which is supposed to be accomplished. In a military operation where precision and stealth is required to obtain some secret information, silencer can prove its worth. For the soldiers, silence is the key. The only way to do this is to use silenced weapons. The Special Forces can complete the mission without leaving the trace and come back to their base as fast as possible. Silencer does produce sound, but it is not louder than a sneeze of a person. Anything more than that can lead to the failure of the mission.
Before we can understand the working of a silencer, we must know the reason why the sound is produced. If no sound is produced, there will be absolutely no need of this small item. When the bullet is fired from the gun, high pressure gas is released, which is formed behind the bullet. High amount of force is generated by the ignition of gunpowder, which causes enormous pressure. This gas escapes the gun barrel just after the moment bullet was fired. Hence, a loud noise is produced. The waves in the vicinity perform the action of spreading it in all directions.
The Mechanism And Its Working
Now, here the silencer comes into play. It does the work of absorbing the sound so that it cannot be spread up to large distances. It is fitted at the barrel of the gun. The silencer is made up of strong metal that can withstand high heat and pressure. It performs the operation in two steps. In step one, silencer captures the gas from the explosion of gunpowder and displaces the gas into the larger volume of silencer. This reduces the pressure, which was formed due to the high force. In second step, silencer restricts the flow of the gas out of the muzzle. This makes the gas releasing slowly and with minimal noise. Generally, the silencer is bigger than the barrel of the gun so that the noise is reduced by getting absorbed in the silencer itself.
Are Silencers Helpful With Machine Guns?
Silencers are mostly used with the pistols and rifles. But can they be used with the machine guns also? Some engineers are working on the application of the same. Machine Guns are heavy weapons that are used to bombard the enemy with the bullets. These have a large amount of recoil due to larger force produced. As a result, they are extremely noisy. If the machine guns could be silenced, it will be huge advantage for the forces to perform anti-terrorist operations easily. The silencer for machine guns would be very large as it must be able to absorb large noises.
The Futuristic Needs Of This Extremely Helpful Equipment
In the future, it is possible to 3D print the silencers. We have the technology to do so. However, the process is still an ongoing research. The scientists and engineers have to estimate that would it be economical or not. If 3D printers result in successful manufacturing silencers, it will be very easy to produce silencers with desired requirements. The need of the silencers is widely increasing, as modern military operations are stealthier. And who knows about the future! Maybe we can see silencers for the artilleries and tanks too. However, it seems highly impractical and needless.
In the end, silencers are extremely helpful in military operations and will be used more and more as stealthier missions are increasing in modern military. We cannot make silencers soundproof. To do that, laws of physics must be violated. As we cannot stop the recoil and factors like sonic boom, which is generated after the bullet is ejected. Sonic boom is created because the speed of the bullet is higher than sound. But what we can do is making the silencers more efficient. In future, silencers will be smaller and highly effective in keeping the location of the soldier secret.
