What happens when you shoot a gun straight into the air?

[bubbasmith99]

Does it come back down and hit you in the face? Or someone else? Or does it dissolve in the ether?

Also, I've always been confused: in the movies you see guns spit out shell casings but then you also see the slug pulled out of somebody's body and it seems to still contain/be in the shell casing.

What gives?

Don't say this is a repost or I'll shoot you.

 

[BatmanNate]

Oh it comes back down alright, and is bound to hit something although the odds of it being a person are slim to nill it does happen.

 

[Gyrene]

There's a thing called wind, and I think that it blows....so that would cause the bullet to change trajectories.

 

[Gujski]

Weren't there reports of people injured in Baghdad by falling bullets shot by people celebrating uday and qusay's deaths? or maybe i dreamt that..

 

[loup garou]

There was actually quite a long thread debating this awhile back, I'll see if I can find it. People were swearing up and down that falling bullets don't have the velocity to kill a person, but I don't buy it.

 

[Hammer]

Originally posted by: dtyn
There's a thing called wind, and I think that it blows....so that would cause the bullet to change trajectories.

i've heard of this wind thing... crazy stuff...

 

[Rogue]

No, there were reports of that. I happens every New Year in places where people fire into the air. I believe over the past few years, several people have been injured/killed from New Year's celebratory gun fire.

 

[jagr10]

Just make sure you have an umbrella handy after you shoot a bullet straight up.

 

[UnatcoAgent]

When the bullet comes down it would not kill anyone, its lost most of the force which propelled it out of the gun and is just being pulled by gravity.

 

[Shooters]

Originally posted by: werk
There was actually quite a long thread debating this awhile back, I'll see if I can find it. People were swearing up and down that falling bullets don't have the velocity to kill a person, but I don't buy it.

Well, physics tells us that when the bullet comes back down and reaches the ground, it will be traveling at the same velocity it did when it left the gun (if drag is neglected), so in that case it would certainly be enough to kill someone. But, if you take drag into account, then the bullet will only reach terminal velocity, which will defnitely injure but maybe not kill a person.

 

[AvesPKS]

...an Islamic Fundamentalist gets his wings?

 

[Kalvin00]

Yes but it's still going pretty fast, and if it hit you in the right spot it could severely injure/kill you.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Although it's not going as fast, it'll still be moving over 200MPH on the way down. Easily enough to cause injury and they often are enough to go through roofs.

Edit:
As far as the shell casing goes, I don't know what lame ass movie you watched, but all the ones I've seen only have the bullet with the copper jacket. Any movie that pulls a brass casing out of a body was one filmed by someone that's never shot a gun.

 

[Ferocious]

If gravity was the ONLY factor....the speed when it hit the ground would be identical to it's firing speed.

But on Earth....the landing speed would be much slower....and would vary depending on shape of bullet and wind speed....etc.

 

[Special K]

Here is a link to the original discussion, if anyone cares.

 

[KalliMa]

I don't think the bullet would return to earth the same speed as fired from the gun.

I break it up into two parts:
(a) Way up
(b) Way down.

(a) On the way up, the bullet leaves the gun pretty damn quick, then slowly decelerates due to pull of gravity, air friction, etc, then finally stops, like the Batplane stopped in front of the moon in the first Batman movie.
(b) Then, as if released by an invisible hand, the bullet will drop, accelerating until it reaches (more or less) terminal velocity.

Still, hitting somebody in the head would really, really hurt and could cause death.

Has anyone been killed with a penny or marble dropped from a tall building? I'd be interested in hearing the stories.

 

[dighn]

should move a bit faster than a hail of the same size

 

[TheCorm]

Originally posted by: dighn
should move a bit faster than a hail of the same size

Ouch.

 

[captains]

bullets come back down but wind and all that will make it not come straight back down....only movie i know of that actually had this play a part was The Mexican (think thats the title) or something like that with brad pitt, julia roberts and james gandalfini (spelling)......pitt is in mexico and mexicians are shooting in the air and dude dies because of bullets coming back down....

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Magnum375
When the bullet comes down it would not kill anyone, its lost most of the force which propelled it out of the gun and is just being pulled by gravity.

With an acceleration of 32ft/sec^2 until it reaches terminal velocity. It's gonna hurt, and it might kill you if it hit you in the wrong place.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Gujski
Weren't there reports of people injured in Baghdad by falling bullets shot by people celebrating uday and qusay's deaths? or maybe i dreamt that..

I think quite a few people died.

 

[Confused]

When falling, it will go to terminal velocity. This is governed by the amount of resistance against gravity the object is experiencing. It will fall at the same speed as a hailstone of the same size and weight, however upon impact it will do more damage than a hailstone as it is solid, and therefore is more difficult to stop, as it won't absorb any energy of the impact (a hailstone may break or become deformed)

However it won't come down "at the same speed it was fired at" because the only force acting on it will be gravity, not with the force of the explosives behind it



Confused

 

[rootaxs]

We had a lot of instances of "falling" bullets back home - most notably during the New Year's celebration. There have been numerous cases of people either getting hurt or killed by the bullets.

The couple of times i saw this in the news, they showed where in the roof the bullet went through and where it landed - barely missing a sleeping child or someone else.

 

[MegaloManiaK]

Teacher says, ever time you shoot a gun in the air, a puppy somewhere dies.

I shot a BB gun up in the air once when i was a kid, a few seconds later i heard the neighbors dog yelping. Last time i did that.

 

[PunDogg]

God eats the bullet

Dogg