Just like the term bettergetter, a name can say a lot about what something does ... Metal Storm has developed a technology that has the theoretical potential to fire projectiles at over A MILLION ROUNDS PER MINUTE!  Say what!!  You read it right ... a million rounds per minute!  Well, they are still going through some testing, but the site offers some pretty cool video clips of up to 240,000 rpm (reminiscent of the scene in Predator where they mow down the jungle).

How it works: 

Basically, the company set out to design a way of firing a projectile with fewer moving parts.  Moving parts are slow ... moving parts jam ... moving parts break, so if you can blast out rounds without moving parts you can make a more efficient and reliable weapon.  The standard bullet is fired by hitting a gunpowder loaded cap that creates a small explosion (kaboom) and sends the bullet flying down the barrel of a gun.  A typical machine gun's successive bullets are loaded into the chamber and fired one after another.  The problem here is that the number of bullets fired is limited by the mechanical movements required to load and fire each round.  Metal Storm has eliminated the mechanical features by lining the barrel with bullets one behind the other that can be fired in rapid succession by applying electronic charges at various places in the barrel, just fractions of seconds apart.  In addition to eliminating the moving parts, this also reduces the recoil associated with traditional firing mechanisms.

I don't know exactly what kind of superman you have to go after with a million rounds, but I find the technology absolutely astounding. In case you're not a big fan of guns, the same technology also has a wide range of other better commercial applications like setting off the most amazing fireworks display you've ever seen or splattering burning buildings with a rapid stream of fire retardant goop. 

The company is also in the market of developing smart guns that cannot discharge without being in the right person's hands.

(the above post from www.bettergetter.com has been modified to fit your blogcritics page)