Gun Myth

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hatterasurf

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I heard this on TV the other day. If you shoot any gun 100% level at any distance for the ground, it will hit the ground the same time as if you dropped it from that height. So in fact, if you shot a 1911 .45 from 4 feet off the ground and dropped the same bullet from that height it would hit the ground the sametime. (hope I explain this so you understand) Anybody else heard of this?
 
I would say the one you drop would hit first since the fired round has to lose energy before dropping to the ground

Edit: I should have payed more attention is school
 
It's a thing called GRAVITY. As long as the barrel is held level both bullets will strike the ground at the same time, altho somwhat further apart. Gravity affects both bullets equally. That is why uphill and downhill shots differ from level shooting.
Hope that this helps.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas
 
That would be true provided that the bullet's course is perfectly flat and the bullet's course does not change at all.
 
I would say the one you drop would hit first since the fired round has to lose energy before dropping to the ground
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Nope, if it's fired "100% level", there would be no (gun-related) vertical component to its momentum.

Gravity is constant, and if the bullet fired perfectly horizontal, then it has nothing acting against its falling.

Only complication I could see: does the spinning of the bullet have any effect on its air resistance as it loses altitude?

-MV
 
Basic physics. The horizontal component of the bullet's movement is completely serperate from the vertical.

(For simplicity this is done in a vaccuum, to eliminate aerodynamic effects.)
 
maybe thats what I was thinking, the bullets shape and spin makes it "cut" through the wind, which I would think would effect its time hitting the ground even ever so slightly.
 
100% correct

the bullet starts slowing down the second it leaves the barrel.
the force of graviti starts pulling on the bullet at that same exact moment.
the forward momentum is totally independent from the graviti force pulling it down. so yes, bullet fired at horizontal and another dropped, will in fact, hit the ground at the same time. air resistance, given the bullet is perfectly symetric, makes no difference, since it applies equally from every side, therfore it cancel's out. bullet has no "lift" like an airplane wing. it's speed doesn't help it stay in the air longer (again, assuming perfect symetry).

A+ in HS and College physics :evil:
 
I understand physics and that all objects no matter there weigh fall at the same speed. But a bullet can travel a mile before hitting the ground, its just hard to understand it hitting the ground the sametime.
 
Some bullets could travel a mile, it all depends on it's forward velocity. If you were to fire a .223 55gr bullet, a .45 auto 230gr bullet and a .17 cal BB at the same time with the barrels of each level with the ground all 3 projectiles would hit the ground at the same time, but at different distances due to their forward velocities.

RH
 
I understand physics and that all objects no matter there weigh fall at the same speed. But a bullet can travel a mile before hitting the ground, its just hard to understand it hitting the ground the sametime.
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That's because it travels reallyyyyyyyy fast. It takes an object to hit the ground from the height of say 5 feet about half a second. In that time bullet will travel, horizontally, many many feet, while falling down at the same speed as the one dropped from the hand. See, the forward momentum and speed is independent of the gravity acting down on the bullet. It may seam unbelievable, but it's true :D
 
That's the way it works.

Consider that you've got 2 vector components to the bullet's motion. One is in the horizontal in the direction the muzzle points while the other is in the vertical. The horizontal is impacted by drag and muzzle velocity to determine the distance the bullet will travel in the horizontal. The bullet has no vertical component to oppose gravity so it responds in the vertical axis as a bullet dropped from the muzzle would.

See math and physics are not boring.;)
 
Horizontal and vertical components of the bullet's movement are vectors at 90 degrees to each other. The vertical component i.e.gravity, is independent of the horizontal i.e. forward velocity. The two bullets will hit the ground at the same time, just several 1k meters apart. Now, this does assume a perfectly flat terrain over the distance traveled.
 
did this in HS physics class 'teacher used a gadget that both dropped and launched via a spring 2 steel balls of equal weight
we're talking the 60's here no computer animation fancy cameras watched the experiment 3 times sure enough both hit the ground at the same time
 
Physics is crap. Im taking it this year, and its totally usless when it comes to real life.

In class I was supposed to be doing a worksheet but instead I wanted to try out a real world equation. If you shot a .22 caliber weapon at a 45 degree angle at 1200 FPS, I calculated that the bulelt would travel 98 miles. Im pretty sure it would travel 10 or less miles. The reason? We are always told to "neglect wind resistance." Whats the point of learning something if you cant use it in real life?
 
Physics is crap. Im taking it this year, and its totally usless when it comes to real life.
Click to expand...

The reason? We are always told to "neglect wind resistance." Whats the point of learning something if you cant use it in real life?
Click to expand...

Baby steps, young brasshopper. If they had you calculate in all the factors in "Into to Physics" it'd be too hard to learn. So they strip out almost all the factors, teach you the basics, and then teach you how to incorporate the other factors.

That's like saying that it's pointless to teach you how to start the engine of a car, since it doesn't get you any closer to Las Vegas...

-MV
 
Physics is crap. Im taking it this year, and its totally usless when it comes to real life.

In class I was supposed to be doing a worksheet but instead I wanted to try out a real world equation. If you shot a .22 caliber weapon at a 45 degree angle at 1200 FPS, I calculated that the bulelt would travel 98 miles. Im pretty sure it would travel 10 or less miles. The reason? We are always told to "neglect wind resistance." Whats the point of learning something if you cant use it in real life?
Click to expand...

because fluid dynamics is astronomically complex. you've got to learn to crawl before you can walk.
 
Dunno, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people talk about some calibers "climbing" out to 150 yards or so then beginning to drop again.

None of them could ever show me this magic flying bullet, but that didn't stop people from talking about it.
 
Not a myth. They will hit at the same time. Both fall to earth at 9.8 meters per second squared, regardless of forward velocity, BC, etc...

"Climbing" is just because of the upward angle that the bullet was originally fired.
 
Oh yea, this debate rages on in the smoke pit sometimes :p

It is true, if you had a 100% controlled environment with absolutely NO outside influence like atmosphere and wind the bullets WOULD hit at the same time. Why? Because Earths gravitational pull on all objects is the same, 9.8m per second per second. The height of the dropped objects doesn't factor into the equation, because once the mass of the object reached it's terminal velocity both objects would fall at exactly the same speed.

Heard the one about dropping a hammer and a feather on the moon at the same time? Guess what, they both hit at the same time. Physics don't lie.
 
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