Where do stray bullets end up?
Discussion
So,Last night I was watching the Iraqi celebrations of the Americans leaving Iraq - lots of firing of AK47s up in the air - I got to thinking where do all these bullets end up?
My limited knowledge of physics tells me that they must at some point come back down and fall to the ground accelerating at 10m/s/s. Now the terminal velocity of a free fall sky diver is about 120mph (or 180mph when tucked up), so I would imagine that a bullet terminal velocity must be much more as they are designed to be aero-dynamic for obvious reasons.
Being hit by a stray bullet at more than 180mph has got to be lethal... How come we don't hear about more people getting killed by stray bullets, or are my physics all wrong and I am missing some obscure rule that turns stray bullets into popcorn or something?
My limited knowledge of physics tells me that they must at some point come back down and fall to the ground accelerating at 10m/s/s. Now the terminal velocity of a free fall sky diver is about 120mph (or 180mph when tucked up), so I would imagine that a bullet terminal velocity must be much more as they are designed to be aero-dynamic for obvious reasons.
Being hit by a stray bullet at more than 180mph has got to be lethal... How come we don't hear about more people getting killed by stray bullets, or are my physics all wrong and I am missing some obscure rule that turns stray bullets into popcorn or something?
Yeah i watched that mythbusters episode. IIRC the conclusion was that it would be far from fatal as it fell to the ground as it barely penetrated the soft sand where they performed the test.
However if the gun wasnt fired straight up (or close to straight)and the bullet was on an arc then it could be fatal.
However if the gun wasnt fired straight up (or close to straight)and the bullet was on an arc then it could be fatal.
skoff said:
So,Last night I was watching the Iraqi celebrations of the Americans leaving Iraq - lots of firing of AK47s up in the air - I got to thinking where do all these bullets end up?
My limited knowledge of physics tells me that they must at some point come back down and fall to the ground accelerating at 10m/s/s. Now the terminal velocity of a free fall sky diver is about 120mph (or 180mph when tucked up), so I would imagine that a bullet terminal velocity must be much more as they are designed to be aero-dynamic for obvious reasons.
Being hit by a stray bullet at more than 180mph has got to be lethal... How come we don't hear about more people getting killed by stray bullets, or are my physics all wrong and I am missing some obscure rule that turns stray bullets into popcorn or something?
You're forgetting to include mass, something a bullet has little of but a plummeting person has a fair bit of.My limited knowledge of physics tells me that they must at some point come back down and fall to the ground accelerating at 10m/s/s. Now the terminal velocity of a free fall sky diver is about 120mph (or 180mph when tucked up), so I would imagine that a bullet terminal velocity must be much more as they are designed to be aero-dynamic for obvious reasons.
Being hit by a stray bullet at more than 180mph has got to be lethal... How come we don't hear about more people getting killed by stray bullets, or are my physics all wrong and I am missing some obscure rule that turns stray bullets into popcorn or something?
Galileo said:
Matt_N said:
Been done on Mythbusters.
Well thanks for your help!!Do we need to sit through all the mythbusters just to find the answer or would you care to share their findings with those of us who don't watch it?
I forgot to type the result out and just hit reply!
Like others have said, it penetrated the sand a few inches, but the conclusion was that it wouldnt be fatal.
Cant remember what size round they did it with though, it was a pretty small calibre, maybe a falling .50cal would do a bit more damage!
Galsia said:
A bullet that is fired in the air will gradually slow down, be stationary for a split second, then fall due to gravity. Having a bullet fall on you from the air will hurt no more than a coin or something of similar size.
Unless it's on a parabolic trajectory, which it quite possibly could be.Neil_H said:
Galsia said:
A bullet that is fired in the air will gradually slow down, be stationary for a split second, then fall due to gravity. Having a bullet fall on you from the air will hurt no more than a coin or something of similar size.
Unless it's on a parabolic trajectory, which it quite possibly could be.Galsia said:
A bullet that is fired in the air will gradually slow down, be stationary for a split second, then fall due to gravity. Having a bullet fall on you from the air will hurt no more than a coin or something of similar size.
Wrong about the coin. Bullets are designed to fly through the air with low a drag coefficient and to be stable in flight. A coin will tumble, so the flat side will have a high Cd and slow the coin down. A bullet will also have more mass than a coin which IS important when you factor Cd into the equation.
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