Piezoelectric Implosion Cartridge

The problem with magnetic weapons like Gauss rifles and rail guns is that you need a lot of electricity very quickly. The only way to get this is by charging a huge bank of capacitors beforehand. But perhaps there is another way.

Piezoelectric materials generate a voltage when squeezed. Hitting a piezoelectric crystal with a hammer causes a visible electric arc. But the power generated like this is pretty puny.

Proposed, therefore, is a replica of a fission bomb, with the nuclear fuel replaced with (much cheaper) piezoelectric material. This can either be an implosion- or gun-type device, depending on where it's easiest to attach the crocodile clips. When the (conventional) explosive charge is fired, we should get a whole bunch of electrons jumping out of the jump leads.

The advantage of all this is that the device could be produced in bulk, in cartridge form, and loaded into a (possibly cumbersome) magazine, so that your futuristic magnetic weapons can now be semiautomatic.

A spin-off business will also market a miniaturized version of the system for speeding up the recycle time of photographic strobe lights.