What happens when a bullet is fired straight up?

A bullet fired straight up will slow down, stop, then fall to earth again, accelerating until it reaches a point where its weight equals the resistance of the air. That’s its terminal velocity. For further insight, we turn to Hatcher’s Notebook (1962) by Major General Julian S. Hatcher, a U.S. Army ordnance expert.

Can a bullet fired in the air kill you?

The myth was that a bullet fired in the air could kill you. The first problem is that it is not a myth. There are several reported cases of people being killed from bullets that were fired in the air. The Mythbusters tested this by finding out how fast a bullet would be going if fired straight up.

How does air resistance affect the speed of a bullet?

The faster it goes, the more air resistance it feels. Eventually it reaches a speed at which the force of gravity pushing down on it is equal to the force of air resistance pushing up. When all the forces balance out like this, the bullet stops speeding up – this is called the .

How fast does a bullet travel when it hits the ground?

If there were no air resistance, the bullet would return to earth going exactly the same speed as it left the gun barrel, i.e. around 2,500 feet per second. This is because gravity is a constant and gravity will cause the bullet to accelerate on the way down at the same rate as it slowed the bullet down on the way up.

What happens if a bullet falls 300 feet per second?

Mattoo’s equation predicts that Hatcher’s.30 caliber bullet, which has a small diameter in relation to its weight, will perforate the skin at only 124 feet per second. It’s easy to believe such a bullet falling at 300 feet per second could kill you, especially if it struck you in the head.

What is the energy of a bullet?

It came down bottom (not point) first at what was later computed to be about 300 feet per second. “With the [.021 pound] bullet, this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds,” Hatcher wrote.

What happens to your body when you get shot in the head?

Since the brain stem is nestled safely at the back of the head, most of the time, it is not brain death that is the outright concern for the victim, but rather blood loss. Also, the amount of the blood that is potentially lost is directly influenced by the size and speed of the bullet fired.