Mike1234567
member
Bump to seek more input.
This may be the winner.......
regarding use -- and meanings -- of the terms "Energy," "Momentum," "Power" and "Force".
A projectile causes damage to a target through a transfer of energy, whether that energy is dissipated through simple concussion, or breaking, or tearing, or other damaging actions. The formula for kinetic energy (energy in motion) is one-half the mass times the square of the velocity.
While mass contributes equally with velocity to momentum, momentum is not what we're after; energy is. So when seeking the most damage possible from a projectile, velocity clearly is king.
Of course we need to assure that a really fast-moving projectile doesn't just tear cleanly through the target, but transfers its energy on or within the target, so a flat-nosed projectile moving very rapidly would seem to be getting us closer to what's been asked for here.
Finally, the above suggestion for an aluminum bullet would seem to be helpful, as well. The factor that keeps a projectile moving downrange is momentum, (which can be described as the force necessary to stop a moving object.) Since the only force pushing back against our projectile (except when it hits a target) is that provided by the atmosphere, we want to reduce momentum as much as possible. And since we want a lot of velocity, and velocity contributes one-half of the momentum, while mass provides the other half, then mass would seem to be the factor to reduce, if we want our projectile to run out of steam as soon as possible.
So -- a flat-nosed, light-weight (aluminum?) projectile moving at a very high velocity would seem to be the thing to satisfy the requirement.
But boy, I'd sure want to be extremely careful when trying to work up a load for a very fast aluminum bullet!
But also, I must point out that when working out problems in physics, there always seems to be just one more factor that pokes its nose in at the last minute and throws off all the carefully worked-out conclusions.
So if I've missed something, I certainly won't be miffed when somebody takes the trouble to point it out.