Speed guns are being increasingly used to monitor speeding vehicles, ensuring traffic safety and enforcing speed regulations.

About Speed Gun

• A speed gun is a device used to measure the speed of a moving object without direct contact.
• It operates by emitting electromagnetic radiation, which reflects off the moving object.
• The device calculates the object’s speed using the Doppler effect.
• Speed guns were originally developed during World War II for military purposes and later adapted for civilian use.

Enroll now for UPSC Online Classes

Working Mechanism of Speed Gun

• Doppler Effect: The principle behind speed guns relies on the Doppler effect, discovered by Austrian physicist Christian Doppler.
• When an object moves towards or away from the speed gun, the frequency of the reflected waves changes.
  • Approaching object: Frequency increases.
  • Receding object: Frequency decreases.
• The difference in frequency is used to calculate the object’s speed.

Types of speed Guns

Check Out UPSC NCERT Textbooks From PW Store

Applications of Speed Gun

• Traffic Monitoring: Used by law enforcement to measure vehicle speeds and enforce traffic regulations.
• Sports: Used by coaches and trainers to measure the speed of balls, athletes, or vehicles in sports like cricket, baseball, and racing.
• Industrial Uses: Employed in industries requiring precise motion tracking, such as manufacturing or logistics.

DOWNLOAD PDF