OhGizmo! » Archive » Navy Test Fires 10 Megajoule Railgun (Holy Cow)

So, after some quick wikipediaing, here is some contextualization:

 1 joule ≈ 2.7778 ×10-⁷kilowatt-hour

So, 10 MJ ≈ 2.7778 kWh

And wikipedia points out a few household appliances that consume approximately a kW every hour:  hairdryers, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners.

It’s worth noting though, that this rail gun can pump out 10 rounds a minute.  In other words, 28 kWhs of energy consumed -every minute- if this thing was fired continuously.