Drop a bullet vs. Shoot a bullet

[RedRooster]

From 4' high you drop a bullet(without casing) and at the same moment you fire a gun exactly parallel to and 4' from the ground. Which bullet would hit the ground first?

edit- ok, you walk out in the middle of a field on a normal day(not in space, not in a vaccum) and try this. standard .22 calibre rifle. and we can assume the field is perfectly flat, with no hills of dirt sticking up, you get the idea. or it could be all cemented, with hundreds of yards of cement(or however far a .22 will shoot) EXACTLY flat the whole way, not curving with the Earth's surface along the way.

 

[gigapet]

barring no air resistance and gravity remains constant they hit the ground at the exact same time.

 

[Koenigsegg]

Same?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

they should hit roughly at the same time

 

[fs5]

do your own homework.

 

[Pastore]

Common sense would say the 4' dropped bullet, but I'm probably wrong.

 

[hypn0tik]

Originally posted by: gigapet
barring no air resistance and gravity remains constant they hit the ground at the exact same time.

Agreed.

 

[OffTopic1]

Originally posted by: Koenigsegg
Same?

They both feel the same down force exert on them therefore they both drop at the same rate.

 

[angstsoldat]

hahaha

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Beast1284
Common sense would say the 4' dropped bullet, but I'm probably wrong.

That is correct. You are wrong.

 

[91TTZ]

same

 

[akubi]

well if you consider the curvature of the Earth and its rotation, the answer isn't as trivial as you might think

 

[HardcoreRobot]

same time. the shot bullet has no vertical initial velocity, so it starts to fall at the same rate as the dropped one. assuming no wind resistance etc.

 

[hans030390]

i'd say shooting the gun because it adds lots of force to it, and if shot at the exact time the bullet is dropped, it should hit first unless the gun pauses before shooting, which might happen.

 

[RichPLS]

The fired bullet probably...
Depends on what the fired bullet hits before it lands on the ground...

 

[Kyteland]

The dropped one. Since the earth is a sphere, and not flat, the fired bullet will actually have farther to fall than the dropped one.

Note that this assumes that it is fired in a vacuum.

 

[imported_Pablo]

when you shoot a bullet, it actually heats up... so much, in fact that if it didn't run into anything, it would rise until leaving the earths atmosphere. But that's only if it maintains velocity.

 

[gsaldivar]

Originally posted by: gigapet
barring no air resistance and gravity remains constant they hit the ground at the exact same time.

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: gigapet
barring no air resistance and gravity remains constant they hit the ground at the exact same time.

 

[LeiZaK]

not enough information

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: Kyteland
The dropped one. Since the earth is a sphere, and not flat, the fired bullet will actually have farther to fall than the dropped one.

Note that this assumes that it is fired in a vacuum.

LOL, you want to ignore air resistance and the fact that terrain isn't flat but you want to take into account the fact that the Earth's surface is curved?

You must be a mathematician or a physicist

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Pablo
when you shoot a bullet, it actually heats up... so much, in fact that if it didn't run into anything, it would rise until leaving the earths atmosphere. But that's only if it maintains velocity.

Wrong.

A bullet doesn't go fast enough to achieve escape velocity.

 

[gigapet]

Originally posted by: Kyteland
The dropped one. Since the earth is a sphere, and not flat, the fired bullet will actually have farther to fall than the dropped one.

Note that this assumes that it is fired in a vacuum.

gravity doesnt change because the earth is curved. four feet from the ground in LA is the ssame distance as it is in maine

 

[HonkeyDonk]

Originally posted by: LeiZaK
not enough information

agreed.

OP needs to make some assumptions that we can base our answers on.

Like many people have said already, things like gravity, air resistance, curvature of earth, etc.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: gigapet

Originally posted by: Kyteland
The dropped one. Since the earth is a sphere, and not flat, the fired bullet will actually have farther to fall than the dropped one.

Note that this assumes that it is fired in a vacuum.

gravity doesnt change because the earth is curved. four feet from the ground in LA is the ssame distance as it is in maine

Stop before your foot is further engulfed into your mouth.