If you shot a bullet in outer space, would it travel forever?
- Thread starter tamaneko
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Not to be too Geeky but in Green Lantern - they used their rings to construct interstellar distance sniper rifles. 
What if your bullet is our first message to another civilization and they see it is a hollow point and get mad and send giant robots to destroy us and you have to save the world and get to kiss Megan Fox?
What if your bullet is our first message to another civilization and they see it is a hollow point and get mad and send giant robots to destroy us and you have to save the world and get to kiss Megan Fox?
bigalexe
Member
Ok what you've asked its: Will an object subjected to a force in the theoretical vacuum of empty space ever come to a stop?
In theory since space is a vacuum, there is no friction and nothing to stop it. In reality space is a near-vacuum, its about as close as you can get without being one. So in reality there is an infinitesimally small amount of friction which would take an infinitesimally long time to slow and stop an object. However space doesnt just have general friction it has asteroids, planets, stars, comets, and possibly Aliens like Predator or E.T. So the chances are that somewhere that bullet would hit one of those objects either by flying straight into it or it would get caught in its gravity and slowly orbit into it. At that point we could call the bullet stopped, BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Most of those objects are what we would consider moving themselves, Comets, Asteroids, and Planets tend to orbit starts, and stars orbit in galaxies, and sometimes orbit black holes. Also sometimes E.T. flies around in space ships looking for people to abduct. So the bullet stopped but is still technically in motion albeit not on its own.
Its a very long explanation: Short Answer is Yes a bullet will stop but who knows when or where?
In theory since space is a vacuum, there is no friction and nothing to stop it. In reality space is a near-vacuum, its about as close as you can get without being one. So in reality there is an infinitesimally small amount of friction which would take an infinitesimally long time to slow and stop an object. However space doesnt just have general friction it has asteroids, planets, stars, comets, and possibly Aliens like Predator or E.T. So the chances are that somewhere that bullet would hit one of those objects either by flying straight into it or it would get caught in its gravity and slowly orbit into it. At that point we could call the bullet stopped, BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Most of those objects are what we would consider moving themselves, Comets, Asteroids, and Planets tend to orbit starts, and stars orbit in galaxies, and sometimes orbit black holes. Also sometimes E.T. flies around in space ships looking for people to abduct. So the bullet stopped but is still technically in motion albeit not on its own.
Its a very long explanation: Short Answer is Yes a bullet will stop but who knows when or where?
AWorthyOpponent
Member
bullet would never fire. There is no oxygen to ignite the gun powder. You'd have to make some kind of special gun powder that used different combustables or a sealed system to fire it...
Cannonball888
Member
Nope. Gunpowder supplies it's own oxygen. Just watch Glocks being shot underwater on YouTube.
1858rem
Member
you dont need oxygen for the bullet to fire, it(the powder,primer) has its own fuel and oxidizers
Better late than never, eh natman?
theotherwaldo
Member
The bullet or it's constituent atoms would continue to travel. It's vectors would change often, of course, but it would continue in motion.
Just like all of the other matter in the universe.
Just like all of the other matter in the universe.
bigione
Member
I wonder if you would get a limp wrist effect?
Blackbeard
Member
Nothing ever stops in space, because the word "stop" has no meaning. All motion is relative. On Earth we describe motion in relation to the Earth, and "stopped" only means it is travelling on the same vector as the portion of the Earth that it is on. Suppose you pull the bullet out and just release it in deep space. Is it moving? Relative to you, it isn't moving. But relative to the planet that just flew by, it is moving.
Basically the bullet you fire and the one you just let go will have the same fate. They will exist until they get sucked into a star and vaporized at some point.
Basically the bullet you fire and the one you just let go will have the same fate. They will exist until they get sucked into a star and vaporized at some point.
divemedic
Member
Stupid cheap replacement keyboard keeps missing letters and numbers. My old one broke, and I am currently using a cheap Nexxtech, because I have been too lazy to go buy a new one.
As far as time is relevent to us a bullet fired off into space would travel to the end of time compared to our time on this planet and in the Universe. The chances of the bullet hitting anything out there is almost nil since Astronomers tell us that space with all that is in it is almost 99% empty.
Nate1778
Member
Look I have watched enough space movies to know a gun won't do the trick. One must posses a Galaxycon Thermoplamsa ray gun to shoot something in outer space. Of coarse it would not be able to penetrate a GX 2000 force field generator, so what does it matter. You guys are such nerds............
Hk91-762mm
Member
It would stay in motion until something stopped it. Whatever that is who knows.
At least that's what a guy called Isaac Newton said. I think he has a website...
=====>>>>>>>Post of the day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At least that's what a guy called Isaac Newton said. I think he has a website...
=====>>>>>>>Post of the day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again to reiterate others, there is no such thing as "stop" in space.
You don't need O2 outside the round, the combustion occurs inside the casing as there is oxygen inside the casing because you would have had to load it on earth. Which makes me wonder, since there is gas inside with some pressure inside the casing, and there is no pressure in space, wouldn't the gas inside expand and push the bullet out anyway??
which brings me to the real question, what would happen if you jumped out of a space ship naked?
I think you would first immediately freeze solid, then explode.
You don't need O2 outside the round, the combustion occurs inside the casing as there is oxygen inside the casing because you would have had to load it on earth. Which makes me wonder, since there is gas inside with some pressure inside the casing, and there is no pressure in space, wouldn't the gas inside expand and push the bullet out anyway??
which brings me to the real question, what would happen if you jumped out of a space ship naked?
I think you would first immediately freeze solid, then explode.
Flyboy
Member
A) Yes, it would fire. Gunpowder--like most explosives and conflagrants--is composed of many compounds, including nitrates. The nitrate ion, NO3 (-1) carries three oxygen atoms to donate to the combustion reaction. It's not the oxygen gas inside the casing--the gaseous contents are truly trivial in the scope of things--but rather the oxygen stored chemically in the compounds (called "oxidizers" for a reason).
B) Ignoring the question of how we define "stop" (what's our frame of reference--Special relativity says there's no such thing as an absolute reference frame, so you can't say "it's not moving" as an absolute, just "not moving relative to x"), the bullet would ultimately end up in the sun if it didn't achieve Solar escape velocity (discussed above). The bullet would orbit the sun for a long time, but it would lose a minuscule (barely measurable) amount of energy each time it collided with a stray hydrogen molecule. Each collision would cause a degradation in the bullet's orbit (again, barely measurable, if at all), but the cumulative effect over an unknown period of time (decades? Centuries? Millenia? Longer?) would ultimately result in the orbit collapsing into the sun--unless, of course, the bullet collided with another body first.
If somehow the bullet did achieve escape velocity, it would continue into deep space, again being minutely deflected by each collision with a random atom or molecule. Ultimately, it would be captured by another body's gravity (based on the fact that space has a nearly-limitless number of stars, probability suggests that gravitational capture would happen eventually), resulting in the same scenario as in our own system, just a whole lot later.
Of course, during the countless aeons, the metal of the bullet would sublimate from the surface. It happens here on Earth, too, but what's a few thousand atoms per year? De nada, until you start talking millions or billions of years. If somehow the shot managed to avoid gravitational capture long enough, it might just evaporate into the imperfect vacuum of space, becoming one of those "several atoms per cubic meter."
How long do you want to wait for an answer?
B) Ignoring the question of how we define "stop" (what's our frame of reference--Special relativity says there's no such thing as an absolute reference frame, so you can't say "it's not moving" as an absolute, just "not moving relative to x"), the bullet would ultimately end up in the sun if it didn't achieve Solar escape velocity (discussed above). The bullet would orbit the sun for a long time, but it would lose a minuscule (barely measurable) amount of energy each time it collided with a stray hydrogen molecule. Each collision would cause a degradation in the bullet's orbit (again, barely measurable, if at all), but the cumulative effect over an unknown period of time (decades? Centuries? Millenia? Longer?) would ultimately result in the orbit collapsing into the sun--unless, of course, the bullet collided with another body first.
If somehow the bullet did achieve escape velocity, it would continue into deep space, again being minutely deflected by each collision with a random atom or molecule. Ultimately, it would be captured by another body's gravity (based on the fact that space has a nearly-limitless number of stars, probability suggests that gravitational capture would happen eventually), resulting in the same scenario as in our own system, just a whole lot later.
Of course, during the countless aeons, the metal of the bullet would sublimate from the surface. It happens here on Earth, too, but what's a few thousand atoms per year? De nada, until you start talking millions or billions of years. If somehow the shot managed to avoid gravitational capture long enough, it might just evaporate into the imperfect vacuum of space, becoming one of those "several atoms per cubic meter."
How long do you want to wait for an answer?
yeti
Member
If it were I, in space, trying to fire that gun, something already has gone horribly wrong, and I would forget to snick off the safety, the bullet would go nowhere.
Kind of Blued
Member
I'm having a hard time understanding (or agreeing with) the notion that precise location cannot exist in space. The galaxy is expanding, or moving about, but is it possible for an object (a bullet) to *not* be in motion in space?
I don't see why not...
I don't see why not...
evan price
Member
Blued, "motion" is a relative term- motion compared to what? Since the entire universe is moving, there's no fixed reference point to define as "stopped" to compare.
The bullet would eventually "stop"- It would eventually be attracted to a strong gravitational pull and be pulled into the gravity well of a star or planet.
I guess the REAL question is, what if you were travelling .999999 of the speed of light, and then fired that gun in your direction of travel. What would happen?
The bullet would eventually "stop"- It would eventually be attracted to a strong gravitational pull and be pulled into the gravity well of a star or planet.
I guess the REAL question is, what if you were travelling .999999 of the speed of light, and then fired that gun in your direction of travel. What would happen?
bluetopper
Member
Since reading this thread one of my goals in life has become to actually try this.
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