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Military physics question (don't read unless you're bored)

Chaotic42

Chaotic42

Lifer
Is it possible for a plane, say an F-16, to drop a bomb from a wing and then drop down and hit the bomb an instant later?

Say the F16 is travelling at 150 m/s and the bomb weighs 241kg and is dropped from an altitude of 1400m above MSL.

Is it possible for the plane to hit the bomb after making a 30° downward dive?
 
no.

edit [reason] - the bomb initially is only moving as fast at the F-16, but since it doesnt have any type of acceleration it will eventually slow down to to air resistance. that being said, the bomb will be quite far below the F-16 and thus the F-16 can't simply "drop" down and hit the bomb.
 
It's possible but EXTREMELY difficult. Kudos to the pilot who is able to do it.

Edit: Oh wait you said an instant later.
 
Happens all the time to the A-10 I pilot in Desert Combat 🙁😛

But yeah.. I don't think it's realistically possible in real-life
 
i was playing bf 1942 once, and i was in a bomber, and i let the bombs go and i did a barrelroll, and i aallllmost hit all 3 of them, it was really cool
 
actually, yes. if you release the bombs while the plane is flying belly up, then the instant you release the bomb it will fall back onto the plane. 😛
 
I should explain.

I was playing Falcon 4 SuperPak 4, a big game that's supposed to be realistic in as many ways as possible. Physics is a big part of this, obviously. That happened to me while attacking a DPRK helicopter base and the debriefing screen said that one of my Mk82s (a 500lb bomb) "damaged" an F-16, which appears to have been me.

Edit: bonkers, I think that the F-16 has computer lockouts to keep that from happening.
 
in any case, the moment a bomb is released, it will accelerate towards the center of teh earth at 9.81m/s. unless the plane is vertically dropping at an equivalent rate, it will not hit. after a while, the bomb will lag behind the plane since the plane has acceleration and the bomb does not.
 
Yes its possiable but not a "instant after" when its released from horizontal it starts falling DOWN at 9.81m/s/s , if the pilot started a Dive right after release he coudl catch it because he woudl be being pulled down by the force of his engine which is greater then just gravity,
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
Yes its possiable but not a "instant after" when its released from horizontal it starts falling DOWN at 9.81m/s/s , if the pilot started a Dive right after release he coudl catch it because he woudl be being pulled down by the force of his engine which is greater then just gravity,
Click to expand...

This happened as soon as I pushed the button. At most we're talking .05-.10s
 
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Originally posted by: Anubis
Yes its possiable but not a "instant after" when its released from horizontal it starts falling DOWN at 9.81m/s/s , if the pilot started a Dive right after release he coudl catch it because he woudl be being pulled down by the force of his engine which is greater then just gravity,
Click to expand...

This happened as soon as I pushed the button. At most we're talking .05-.10s
Click to expand...

no not possiable in real life, must be a bug in the game
 
Originally posted by: cRazYdood
What if you did a roll at just the right time?
Click to expand...

i guess if you started you roll as you released it and it was fast enough you could let it go and then hit it with teh wing puching it down

also if you rolled teh other way a tad prior to rlease teh bomb woudl have a slight upward momentm and kind of "stall" in air before moveing down which "MIGHT" allow you to roll and hit it before it fell past you


its late and im not getting out pen and paper and doing this out
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
Yes its possiable but not a "instant after" when its released from horizontal it starts falling DOWN at 9.81m/s/s , if the pilot started a Dive right after release he coudl catch it because he woudl be being pulled down by the force of his engine which is greater then just gravity,
Click to expand...



This is what I'm thinking. I don't know for a fact, but I'm guessing if the plane pointed it's nose sraight down and accelerated it could catch and hit the bomb.

The bomb's speed would be whatever the speed gravity pulls it down minus the air resistance. The plane would be the same except it also has added thrust from the jets.

Just my guess.
 
think about this...

the instant you release the bomb, it starts decelerating and falling, so as soon as you release the bomb..logically, it should be going slower than you. if the bomb is going slower than you are, you will pass it. so not only would you have to slow down with the bomb, you would also have to be falling at greater than the speed of gravity to catch it.
 
Originally posted by: DeRusto
think about this...

the instant you release the bomb, it starts decelerating and falling, so as soon as you release the bomb..logically, it should be going slower than you. if the bomb is going slower than you are, you will pass it. so not only would you have to slow down with the bomb, you would also have to be falling at greater than the speed of gravity to catch it.
Click to expand...

I agree, NO. However, falling faster than gravity can be achieved through the thrust of the engine, but the fact that the bomb is falling more slowly than the plane is flying would require the pilot to turn the plane around to hit the bomb.
 
Originally posted by: grrl
Originally posted by: DeRusto
think about this...

the instant you release the bomb, it starts decelerating and falling, so as soon as you release the bomb..logically, it should be going slower than you. if the bomb is going slower than you are, you will pass it. so not only would you have to slow down with the bomb, you would also have to be falling at greater than the speed of gravity to catch it.
Click to expand...

I agree, NO. However, falling faster than gravity can be achieved through the thrust of the engine, but the fact that the bomb is falling more slowly than the plane is flying would require the pilot to turn the plane around to hit the bomb.
Click to expand...

Either that or decelerate the plane at the same rate that the bomb is decelerating all the while falling faster than the bomb is falling 😉 😛
 
wow, I was searching for something else and stumbled across this thread...

Some of you have a poor grasp of physics concepts (faster than the speed of gravity?! Gravity is a rate of acceleration, NOT a speed)

The answer to this question... A definite YES.
.05 or .1 seconds later, the bomb is STILL going to be below the plane. In fact, during .1 seconds, it will have fallen a distance that can be calculated by d=1/2 a t^2. Note: if the plane was flying horizontally, there would be no initial vertical speed for the bomb. Thus, .1 seconds later, it will have a downward velocity of approximately 1 m/s. It's horizontal velocity will be somewhat less than the planes, due to air resistance... but due to the mass of a typical bomb, it's not going to decelerate that quickly (not like throwing a wad of paper out a car window) The two velocities will be very close to the same. (since some of you are reading this and probably don't agree, I'll see if I can find an mpeg showing bombs being released.)

putting the plane into a 30 degree dive is going to decrease the horizontal velocity while rapidly increasing the vertical velocity. A relatively slow plane with an airspeed of 100 m/s (about 220 mph) diving at 30 degrees is going to have a vertical velocity of 50 m/s. (compare that to the bombs velocity after 1 complete second of less than 10 m/s) The plane is dropping MUCH faster than the bomb.

All we need to know is that the bomb is still below the plane.

Here's a specific solution to the plane dropping the bomb, then starting its dive .5 seconds later... (and achieving 30 degrees during the next .5 seconds, at the 1 second mark)
At the 1 second point, the plane will be dropping at 50m/s. From .5 seconds to 1.0 seconds, it's average vertical velocity is 25 m/s. During that .5 seconds, at that average velocity, it will have fallen 12.5 meters.

Now, the bomb. It will have a vertical velocity of 9.8 meters per second at the end of the first second. It's average vertical velocity during the first second will be 4.9 m/s. Thus, it will have fallen 4.9 meters.

Let's review... plane has dropped 12.5 meters in 1 second.... Bomb has dropped 4.9 meters in 1 second.
Obviously, the plane hit the bomb, unless the bomb was behind the plane.

I say the bomb is NOT behind the plane.

Video proof for those who cannot visualize this....
video of b52 dropping bombs


SEEEEEEEEEEEE?????????!!!!! It would be nothing for a B52 to accelerate downward faster than the bombs and catch up to them.

edit: And, if the plane was starting a dive as it released the bomb, the bomb WOULD hit the plane immediately.. To visualize this, ride a rollercoaster and release something just as you're about to go downhill (and you experience weightlessness) The object will stay right in front of your face... BUT, if you have the thrust of a plane behind you, you'll go down faster than the object.... The bomb will impact the top of the bomb bay.
 
It's definitely possible, the easiest way would be to perform a helical dive so you come round in a loop and hit the bomb from behind - that way the plane can accelerate while diving and catch up with the bomb in the vertical axis without losing it in the horizonal axes.
 
Originally posted by: gururu
i don't think it could happen....i'm trying to picture a flying bird accidentally crapping on itself.
Click to expand...

A bird doesn't have a 100,000lb thrust engine on it's ass.
 
Its possible. If the plane is deccelerating while its dropping the bomb, the bomb's foward speed be the speed of the plane when it was let go. Then, all the pilot has to do is accelerate again at an angle downward.
 
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