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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rackhir" data-source="post: 2602051" data-attributes="member: 149">Didn't say it was negligible, however in scenes like the aformentioned Firefly "guns don't work in space" bit they aren't in space for days at a time, more like minutes. I think you can ignore the problem of cooling for that sort of time frame, just don't try licking the gun with your tongue. Assumming proper mainainance, friction isn't an issue with automatic weapons. You have lots of little explosions (the gunpowder) going off which is where the heat that causes the expansion and distortions in parts comes from. It could conceiveably be a problem for a lasting firefight in space, since you would would have trouble dissapating the heat for the reasons I pointed out above. But then again its perfectly possible to deal with that sort of problem if you simply take it into account in designing the weapon. But, most weapons aren't designed for long duration automatic fire in any situation. You need to be able to replace the barrel on any weapon which will be sustaining a high rate of fire for an extended time period, since it is where most of the heat is generated and remains. This can lead to premature detonation of the cartridge as well or the ammo "Cooking off" as it is more colorfully refered to.  Weapons like rifles and pistols are tested in artic conditions (Try reading up on the development history of the M16 some time) where it can get very very cold, not absolute zero cold, but then again in the artic you have to deal with convection heat loss which is probably more difficult to deal with than the radiative cooling you have to take into account in space.  Yes it can, but most problems in space design are irrelevant for short periods of time. Not if it was a good lubricant. Boiling is a highly undesireable characteristic in a lubricant. Its great if you want to dissapate heat, since it can absorb a tremendous amount of heat, but a good lubricant would not be designed to boil. Particularly a lubricant that would have to operate in a high temperature enviroment like a weapon.</blockquote>

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