[Flag_This]

"Ummm, too bad that once it loses its velocity it doesn’t come back when it falls and can’t do that much damage on the way down."

My shaky understanding is that if you managed to fire a bullet straight up into the air, then yes, the energy from the gunshot would bleed off and the bullet would come down at terminal velocity. But if the gun fires the bullet at an angle (almost certain) then the bullet will be coming in like a mortar round...or a bullet.

[freedumb2003]

>>My shaky understanding is that if you managed to fire a bullet straight up into the air, then yes, the energy from the gunshot would bleed off and the bullet would come down at terminal velocity. But if the gun fires the bullet at an angle (almost certain) then the bullet will be coming in like a mortar round...or a bullet.<<

Only at a very low angle. Assuming people shoot almost straight up it is close enough to “straight” to start to lose energy at apogee.

Too bad Mythbusters closed shop — it would be a great one to test at different angles.

I suppose it could be modeled if my physics was better.

[FreedomStar3028]

A mortar round is packed with explosive.

the bullet will not be coming down faster than terminal velocity in any situation.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

When the bullet shot straight up reaches its peak, its velocity is zero and deducting frictional losses that heat the atmosphere, all its kinetic energy, mass times velocity squared when the gun was fired, has been converted to potential energy, mass times acceleration of gravity times the maximum height. As the bullet falls and speeds up, the potential energy is converted back into kinetic energy. While frictional losses insure the bullet won’t reach the ground with same velocity it left the ground, it will still hit with enough kinetic energy to do damage.