when you shoot a gun aimed upward at the sky...

[rh71]

... what happens to the bullet ?

Things that make you go hmm....

 

[Looney]

It comes back down?

 

[Angrymarshmello]

What goes up must come down

 

[hdeck]

moves in an almost parabolic motion (since wind resistance, etc. prevent it from being a perfect parabola) and eventually comes back down.

 

[gopunk]

wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

it comes back down and you hope nobody is under it

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: rh71
... what happens to the bullet ?

Things that make you go hmm....

It falls back down towards the Earth due to gravity

 

[godmare]

I wonder: would it not break the pull of the earth's gravity, and hurtle into outer space?

 

[Nocturnal]

It comes back down and it can penetrate someone or something.

I've heard of people on news years eye shooting guns into the air and bullets coming back down and landing in peoples heads, backs, all kinda body parts.

 

[Ryan]

Uh, it's acceleration upward is gradually slowed down by the force of gravity, it reaches a point where it cannot go any higher, and then falls back to earth.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

Yes it would... and it is dangerous.

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
What goes up must come down

With a few exceptions.

Deep space probes being the first that comes to mind.

 

[KingNothing]

The only thing I went "hmmm" about is "hmmm...he can't be stupid enough to not know the answer can he?"

The allowable part to wonder about is if the bullet will have the same force when it hits someone on the way down as when it left the gun. The answer is no, air resistance will slow it down considerably.

 

[m2kewl]

you had to ask - someone's about to get a darwin award testing this theory.

 

[technogeeky]

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No.

It comes down with the acceleration from gravity. It comes down with as much velocity as dropping something from whatever height it peaks at.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: technogeeky

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No.

It comes down with the acceleration from gravity. It comes down with as much velocity as dropping something from whatever height it peaks at.

right, but the height it reaches is determined in large part by the starting velocity. and air resistance, of course. neglecting air resistance, it goes up decelerating at g, therefore it makes sense that it would reach a height such that g would result in the bullet having the same velocity as initially by the time it hits the ground.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No, all things fall at the same rate, once gravity is pulling the bullet down, it falls at a steady rate. This fallacy is also the logic behind the myth of throwing a penny off of the empire state building and it killing the person who's head it lands on.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: technogeeky

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No.

It comes down with the acceleration from gravity. It comes down with as much velocity as dropping something from whatever height it peaks at.

It can certainly kill still though.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: technogeeky

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No.

It comes down with the acceleration from gravity. It comes down with as much velocity as dropping something from whatever height it peaks at.

Yeah...that's a better way of putting it. If you really want to know find a terminal velocity equation on the internet and then use Force = Mass * Acceleration to determine how much force our unlucky person on the ground would get beaned with.

 

[dawks]

Terminal velocity owns you.

9.8 meters a second.

 

[WildMonkeyLover]

It keeps travelling until it kills an alien!

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: rbloedow

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No, all things fall at the same rate, once gravity is pulling the bullet down, it falls at a steady rate. This fallacy is also the logic behind the myth of throwing a penny off of the empire state building and it killing the person who's head it lands on.

argh you people are pissing me off. you're misunderstanding my question, i've taken freshman physics! see above post

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: KingNothing

Originally posted by: technogeeky

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No.

It comes down with the acceleration from gravity. It comes down with as much velocity as dropping something from whatever height it peaks at.

Yeah...that's a better way of putting it. If you really want to know find a terminal velocity equation on the internet and then use Force = Mass * Acceleration to determine how much force our unlucky person on the ground would get beaned with.

Area will come into play, too. A piano and a bullet with the same force (dramatically different speeds, given the dramatic difference in mass) will effect 'targets' very differently.

 

[rh71]

Ok, I thought it was obvious that I was looking for answers aside from the OBVIOUS of "it comes back down" ...

9.8 meters/second^2 = acceleration due to gravity...

Fine... this would kill someone, no ? Have you ever thought about it ?Your standard handgun (whatever that may be) ... how much altitude do you think a bullet will have gained before it comes back down? 5k feet? 20k feet?

Not looking for scientific answers, just your thoughts...

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: rbloedow

Originally posted by: gopunk wouldn't that be dangerous? it goes up with a starting velocity, so presumably it would come down with something close to that velocity?

No, all things fall at the same rate, once gravity is pulling the bullet down, it falls at a steady rate. This fallacy is also the logic behind the myth of throwing a penny off of the empire state building and it killing the person who's head it lands on.

argh you people are pissing me off. you're misunderstanding my question, i've taken freshman physics! see above post

Maybe you misunderstood your own question in your head and then formulated it into a sentence incorrectly.