Speed gun:
Speed guns are widely used by law enforcement officials to monitor traffic speed and in various other industries.
- Speed gun is a device to measure the speed of a moving object without having to be in contact with the object.
- To achieve this, the device bounces electromagnetic radiation of a specific frequency off the object, capturing the reflection and using the Doppler effect to infer the object’s speed.
- Speed guns are electronic, and use complex circuitry to emit the radiation used to make the measurement.
- The speed gun was originally developed during World War II for military use and applies the effect using radio waves rather than sound waves.
- A speed gun has a radio transmitter and a receiver.
- The transmitter emits radio waves, which the person holding the speed gun can direct at an object.
- The receiver collects the waves reflected by the object back in the direction of the speed gun.
- If the object is approaching the speed gun, the frequency of the returning waves will be slightly higher than that of the transmitted waves.
- A simple computer in the gun can deduce the object’s speed based on this difference.
