system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[The Expanse] Why can’t railgun projectiles be shot down like missiles?
gpt
Missiles are basically bombs that are strapped to little rockets to carry them over to the target ship. You can effectively neutralize them by intercepting them so that they detonate before they hit your ship- you'll still be hit by a little shrapnel, but it's not a big deal.
Railgun projectiles are dumb matter accelerated to relativistic speeds by their launching mechanism. They've got insane amounts of momentum, so even if you managed to intercept them(itself pretty tricky given how fast they're going) they would just plow through and continue towards your ship. Intercept them with an explosive? Congratulations, now the 2 tons of carbon streaking towards you at 0.02C is red-hot and in five pieces.