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

[moonshinemadness]

The bullet goes up, the bullet comes down and yes after coming back down it would still have the velocity to kill a man, tests were done and it was shown that even after a bullet travelled a mile (Yes they do travel this far infact usually further) it still had the power to penetrate skin.

 

[moonshinemadness]

D/P

 

[Venix]

If you shoot straight up in the air, gravity will be the only force bringing it down. It will in no way, shape, or form resemble the speed it left the gun. That being said, a piece of lead falling at high speed will still hurt.

The work required to decelerate a bullet from its initial velocity ("v") to 0 is exactly equal to the force required to accelerate the bullet from 0 to v. In the absense of air resistance, the bullet would reach the point where it left the gun's barrel at exactly the same speed as when it was fired.

 

[desy]

Ask Jeeves
It goes up comes, down hits terminal velocity of which most calibers don't have the mass to penetrate skin, larger ones do
BUT still isn't enough to kill.

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: Venix

If you shoot straight up in the air, gravity will be the only force bringing it down. It will in no way, shape, or form resemble the speed it left the gun. That being said, a piece of lead falling at high speed will still hurt.

The work required to decelerate a bullet from its initial velocity ("v") to 0 is exactly equal to the force required to accelerate the bullet from 0 to v. In the absense of air resistance, the bullet would reach the point where it left the gun's barrel at exactly the same speed as when it was fired.

I think everyone understands that if there were no resistance it would, but theres nowhere on earth where you could achieve this. So its kind of a moot point.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: moonshinemadness
The bullet goes up, the bullet comes down and yes after coming back down it would still have the velocity to kill a man, tests were done and it was shown that even after a bullet travelled a mile (Yes they do travel this far infact usually further) it still had the power to penetrate skin.

thats not straight into the air tho, which was what the question was asking

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Rob9874
Don't forget the bullet has an aerodymanic shape, so wind resistance would be reduced.

a bullet falls flat side down

Wouldn't it spin?

for a while it would but then friction stops the spinning