HIDRA Logo















SHARK logo

The Society of Physics Students at MTU founded an Applications Committee in September of 2016. This committee acts within the Society to apply the principles of physics and engineering to various projects.


H.I.D.R.A

The first project of the Committee has been to design, build, and test a High Inductance Dual Rail Apparatus (HIDRA) or rail gun. This project has been progressing well and is on the precipice of beginning fabrication. We are actively looking for sponsorship and donations that may expedite the process as we continue to work.


Rail Gun

S.H.A.R.K (On Hold)

We recently added another project to the agenda of the Applications Committee. The new project, Super High-power Automated Radiation Knife (SHARK), is a high powered laser engraver. As we progress on this project more information will become available. Please stay tuned!


As we continue to work on our projects, we plan to continue to update and share information here on our website. Feel free to browse some photos of our work as we build it!



Can Crusher

A wire comes from the capacitor, which is like a big battery. Then the wire wraps around in a coil to make an electromagnet. The coil becomes a very strong magnet when the can crusher is turned on. It is thousands of times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field and its strength can be used to crush a metal can.


This is a smaller project that we hope to have finished shortly with demonstrations on the way!