sarduy
Member
What would me the difference in recoil between, say, firing a 12ga shotgun in the earth's surface vs firing the same shotgun on the surface of the moon? Would felt recoil (ignoring the obvious issue of spacesuits providing a recoil buffer ) be the same, or more?
Random question, I know, but I am a curious fellow with only a passing understanding of physics. Thanks in advance
A: you landing 20-50 feet away from where you were standing due to less gravity.
If you weight 200lb on earth, you weight about 33.2lb on the moon. Your weight on the moon is a function of the moon's gravity. First, we know that gravity is a force that attracts all physical objects towards each other (but why this happens is largely unknown!). Second, the greater the mass of an object, the stronger the force of gravity.
The moon is 1/4 the size of Earth, so the moon's gravity is much less than the earth's gravity, 83.3% (or 5/6) less to be exact. Finally, "weight" is a measure of the gravitational pull between two objects. So of course you would weigh much less on the moon. Imagine how far you could jump on the moon! The Apollo astronauts apparently had fun
ETA: same goes for the ammo, if you shoot a slug it will go about 83% further