amazingly unsafe

[tomcat]

Why would I make that up? You should try it, and report back.

[tomcat]

EDITED BY TOMCAT

[tomcat]

http://www.lapdonline.org/bldg_safer_comms/holiday_safety_tips/4th_July.htm

 

What do you get when you cross an armchair Physics degree and a gun on fourth of July? One dead sexual_chocolate.

 

I find it hard to belive that you believed what you were saying .. a bullet fired at 1800f/s muzzle velocity automatically loses energy and falls at terminal velocity? I'm no Physics major, but something there just doesn't click. France .. terminal velocity .. are we seeing a connection here?

[Dru]

sexual_chocolate said:

I don't believe it, unless it was a bazooka they were firing.

 

people die from falling bullets every year.

 

i dunno about pennies getting flicked off the tops of tall buildings though. i think they put a mesh around the edge of the roof to catch that stuff.

 

[tomcat]

LOL .. I like your graphic Dru .. where on earth did you find that?

[Fairweather]

A 7.62x39 bullet from an AK won't terminate-out nearly as fast as an American 5.56mm. (Wider profile, hence more drag) But the much heavier AK bullet will have more energy upon its return.

 

I'm looking at terminal velocity formulas right now, but I'm pumped up on flu medicine, and in any case bullet nose shape, tumbluing, spin, air temp/density, and other variables I can't even fathom are involved.

 

But I believe the answer is yes.....a falling bullet will easily pierce a human skull. And yes, it is hard to understand the mentality.

 

As far as pennies, not the crappy zinc ones they mint now-a-days. Maybe the real copper ones made when I was a youth, could do some damage. Now an Eisenhower Dollar (you remember those dinner plates?) could really mess someone up bad!

[cracked]

With no friction from the atmosphere, conservation of energy says that a bullet goes up with kinetic energy KE=1/2 mv^2 at the top of the trajectory that energy is stored as potential energy PE=mgh, and when it comes down, it has as much energy as it started out with. So when it is at the same height as it started out with (effectively the ground), it is going down as fast as it started out going up with. Now with drag, let's say terminal velocity is twice what a human body is. (It is probably a lot larger, as a bullet is denser and approximates a sphere better than a human body.) 200mph=about 100m/s. I don't want to be hit by a bullet going that fast, thanks. How much does a bullet weigh? That's quite some kinetic energy. And BTW, every year there are reports in the news about people getting killed by falling bullets. A .38 will do, no need for sexual chocolate's bazooka.

[sexual_chocolate]

Every year there are reports of people dying from falling bullets? Why haven't I heard of this? It seems like something of this nature would be broadcast on the evening news.

I can certainly understand a larger caliber bullet with enough velocity (my bazooka comment was silly) to kill....

But it seems important as to whether or not the bullet kept its "rifling"(?) properties intact during flight; if it starts to tumble, it would slow down significantly?

But in the meantime, maybe we really should keep from firing our rifles straight up in the air, as a precaution, of course.

[glacierdog]

Wow. You guys have entirely to much time on you hands.