As my recent inquiries have shown, when a kinetic projectile has sufficient speed, it does more than 'penetrate and perforate'. It will have somewhat of an explosive effect, right?
Difference to the last question: This is not about what the maximum speed could be, but what speed would be needed to create the desired impact effect.
The formula for kinetic energy goes like $E_k = \frac12 m v^2$, where $E_k$ is the kinetic energy, $m$ is the mass of the projectile and $v$ its velocity.
I know volume (1l = 100 cm³) and density (~20g / cm³)
That means I know the mass of the projectile : 2000g or 2kg.
What I try to find out is how fast would the projectile need to be to have more than a 'kinetic effect' (I know that explosion are basically a kinetic particle effect)
I am aiming for a very intense local effect, something like a modern medium sized bomb would have, not for cataclysmic destruction.
So how much energy is needed to create that 'space rod' effect where it is akin to a warhead, although somewhat smaller, if possible? Is there something like a sliding scale of effects I could use?
Notes:
- The target area is the ground of a sparse forest.
- The firing range is about 100m.
I tried to google it and use a kinetic impact simulator (NASA i think) but they are used for much bigger projectiles (asteroids).
It would be extremly helpful to have some kind of resource to lookup impact effects for later parts of my story, when the damage needs to be even more intense.