Have you ever wondered how long it takes for a .50 caliber bullet to go up and come back down? Posted on 05/17/2018 5:43:36 AM PDT by w1n1
Have you ever wondered how long it takes for a .50 caliber bullet to go up and come back down?
Obviously, you'd probably not want to do this because its a gun safety issue, too many possibilities involved.
Most gun authorities frown upon this gesture with any guns or bows.
But the thing is many gun enthusiasts have that curiosity to know, how long does it take for a .50 caliber bullet to come down.
Youtuber Edwin Sarkissian takes aim (no pun intended) at this question with a .50 caliber incendiary round.
Results After the shot was fired it took about 1:50 minute before you hear the bullet spinning down like a helicopter. This is after several attempts to confirm the sound. Though they stated on the first attempt there was a small explosion made upon impact.
This experiment was not scientific, it was worth watching for a gee whiz moment, especially the helicopter sound of the bullet coming back to earth. Who knows maybe its big brother drones nearby. See the full video footage of .50 Cal bullet to come down here.
I am 9.546% sure this was covered on “Mythbusters.”
I think on Myth Busters they compared dropping a round from a fixed height and comparing it to a bullet shot parallel to the ground from the same height.
They both hit the ground at the same time. Obviously with no lift involved they fell at the same speed but the one shot from a gun was significantly down range. Physics
....about as organised as cat riot...
..we’ll hear from this duo again when they make headlines (fatality)
1 minute , 50 seconds.
Obviously, these boys have way too much time on their hands! LMAO
Yep..................Saw that episode..............
I’ve been hit on the head by falling birdshot shooting crows didn’t even leave a mark...or hurt.
A .50 cal. would probably hurt and it might break the skin but it ain’t gonna kill ya.
Projectile height given time video
Physics would also tell you the time it would take for the bullet to travel in its parabolic arc and return to the ground. Plus its terminal velocity. And, neglecting wind resistance and deflection, its exact trajectory.
Powerful stuff, physics.
Neglecting air resistance, the round would have the same energy it had when it left the muzzle. Not only would it break the skin, it would turn your skull into putty.
Obviously, from the “helicopter” noise the returning round makes, air resistance IS a factor. But I’m betting you still wouldn’t want to get hit.
Under those circumstances a 22 would hit the ground at the same time the 50 caliber did.
Only in a vacuum. The .22 caliber bullet will be affected more by the atmosphere.
That was cool.
The .50 cal will stay in the air a lot longer than the .22 round.
a 50 cal traveling at terminal velocity will definitely hurt. it could easily kill.
(I have a degree in physics- trust me on that)
A shot straight up will go straight up until it stops. It will then fall straight back down, but it will tumble. That is why it makes a windmilling sound.
However, a shot at an angle, say, 10 degrees from vertical, will follow something like parabolic arc, and will still have forward velocity when it reaches the top of that arc. It will then continue down without tumbling, and will gain speed and be moving much faster when it hits the ground.
So a shot straight up may come back down and hit you on the head, but it will probably not kill you, because the bullet will be moving slow, windmilling all the way down. But a shot at a high trajectory that is not vertical will come down, with great energy, some distance away, and would be quite deadly.
One fired at an ISIS terrorist will reach the ground within a second after impact.
But a 50 calibre shot fired perfectly straight up in perfectly calm winds (at the fire point AND all the way to its maximum height will NOT fall back at the fire point. The earth is rotating 1037 mph (1670 km per hour). (Approximately 0.28 mile per second of total non-relativistic vertical flight.)
But that’s at the equator.
Multiple by the cosine of the latitude of the fire point (and add the elevation of the fire point from the assumed perfect spherical global) to get the actual horizontal speed of the perfect bullet fired perfectly upwards in a perfect vacuum - or in a perfectly still air mass.
I’m a nuclear engineer - which is why I know the “actual physics” in the real world can’t be calculated the way most college-educated physicists naively approximate the real world. 8<)
Of course, the initial inertia has to be accounted as well. It’s all relative velocity.
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