What would happen if you shot a gun in space?

"In space, no one can hear you scream".......when you shoot yourself in the back.

Of all the things there are to worry about.......

Wouldn't TSA have disarmed you first?

I think they forgot to account for the gravitational pull on the bullet while circling either a planet or the moon. You would have to aim high.....

Yosemite Sam don't need no steenking rocketpack.

I seem to remember reading with the 1\6th gravity of the moon, a 22cal rifle on the moon would be equivalent to shooting a 30-06 on earth.

I seem to remember reading with the 1\6th gravity of the moon, a 22cal rifle on the moon would be equivalent to shooting a 30-06 on earth.

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when i plug in the numbers, using a (40/6) grn bullet, at 1200 FPS, with a (7/6) lb rifle.....i get a recoil force of 0.08 FT- lbs.

seems a tad off the .30-06 mark.

I think they forgot to account for the gravitational pull on the bullet while circling either a planet or the moon. You would have to aim high.....

You're not thinking correctly about orbital factors. When you're in orbit you're rotating around the globe fast enough that the centrifugal force is balanced against the pull of gravity.

So gravity is already factored in.

But what WOULD happen is that if you shot the bullet back along your path it's now traveling too slow to stay in orbit. So it'll come around and be too low to hit you. So you want to aim up? Sorry but that won't work either. What'll happen is you'll make the orbit of the bullet egg shaped and it'll STILL decay until it enters the atmosphere and burns up.

Trying to "shoot yourself" while in orbit in this manner would require a lot of high falutin' calculations.

IF you were in orbit and fired a gun, the bullet would be travelling faster than your orbital speed and your own orbital speed would be decreased by the reaction of the action of the conversion of static energy to active energy. The mass and speed of the projectile would then have to be calculated to determine its natural orbital plane, which is likely to be a parabolic arc towards the center of the gravitational pull.


This thread proves to me that we have too much time on our hands....

Steel Horse Rider said:

This thread proves to me that we have too much time on our hands....

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What the heck else am I supposed to do when I'm covering the Saturday on-call shift and the phone isn't ringing?

What the heck else am I supposed to do when I'm covering the Saturday on-call shift and the phone isn't ringing?

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Take work with you to the range

I think you are all forgetting the most important fact of firing a round: combustion. In space there is no oxygen which would make a round not fire very far or not at all. Similar to shooting under water if you negate the buoyancy effect of the water on terminal ballistics.

I think you are all forgetting the most important fact of firing a round: combustion. In space there is no oxygen which would make a round not fire very far or not at all. Similar to shooting under water if you negate the buoyancy effect of the water on terminal ballistics.

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The oxygen necessary for the ignition and firing of a round of ammo is chemically contained in the gunpowder itself. No outside oxygen is required.

I think they forgot the effect of the guns recoil too.

If you shot a gun in space, you wouldn't be there later to get shot in the back.

The recoil of the gun would push you away in a new orbit, just like a litttle thruster rocket is used to maneuver a spacecraft.

rc

You would have to speed up your forward velocity just before firing, so that after the recoil your newly lowered speed is perfect to maintain orbit. Lots of calculations to determine what angle to shoot at to compensate for the speed at trigger pull. Ah good stuff guys...

I doubt you could do it on purpose, but Murphy's Law implies you could do it by accident fairly regularly.

In zero gravity the recoil would put the shooter in perpetual rearward motion also.

Guns in Space!

A number of years ago I was thinking about weaponry on space-faring ships. I think 'guns' would work as well as anything.

My brainstorm was to have medium caliber (for cannon) shells to penetrate and detonate, causing rents in the hull structure. A computer system on the ship would fire 'jets' on the opposite side of the ship to balance the recoil and keep the ship stable.

Without gravity, the rounds would fly as true as 'beams'. And possibly be less costly to operate.

It was for a sci-fi story. Details to be solved another day.

My guess is you would probably hit some space junk.

Tech Ninja said:

"The aim has to be perfect," Schultz said."

If you were a cosmonaut you could get this cool three barrel TP-82

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"In Soviet Russia, Space Gun Shoots You!"

That would be an awful lot of careful calculation and preparation to commit suicide......

I think I'd just turn the gun around.

(Of course, my method doesn't come with the bragging rights of an epithet saying that you shot yourself from 100,000 miles away.)

That would be an awful lot of careful calculation and preparation to commit suicide......

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Or kill your adversary in a really cheesy Sci Fi movie.

And you'd also have to consider how much you'll get kicked backwards (and consequently, how much your altitude will change) when you fire.

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I think they forgot the effect of the guns recoil too.

If you shot a gun in space, you wouldn't be there later to get shot in the back.

The recoil of the gun would push you away in a new orbit, just like a litttle thruster rocket is used to maneuver a spacecraft.

rc

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Not to be "that guy" but...

If I manged to fire a gun in space...

There would be one HELL of a Congressional inquiry as to how someone as large, physically infirm, and slow as I am, was able to stow away in one of those teeny-tiny supply capsules to the ISS, with a firearm, completely unnoticed.