Great FACT.

[Blake]

Negating any resistances to motion the time taken for the bullet to hit the floor for both is the same. Use mechanics equations!

 

[Stat Brother]

HowStuffWorks

If I were you lot I'd be asking:-
'why is a postie wandering about listening to FACTS about Snipers'.

 

[Stat Brother]

Anyway your spotter would be there to tell you wind, air pressure etc.

 

[Stat Brother]

It's just a very long winded way of saying that all objects dropped from the same height will take the same time to fall from the ground (ignoring air resistance). GCSE phyics

Yeah even knowing that it still struck me as 'but one bullet will be bloody miles away'.

 

[Seagull27]

It's the same as the whole 'If a brick and feather are dropped from a height in a vacuum, they fall at the same speed' thing.

Or a ball bearing:

 

[NMH]

Nope, you split the motion up into vertical and horizontal vectors, the horizontal power has no affect on the time taken for the bullet to hit the ground

Not quite. The curvature of the Earth plays a part, as the bullet is ultimately going to be travelling in an upward direction. The mass will not be changed by velocity, but the curve of the planet means the trajectory cannot be an exactly constant parallel to the ground.

This is my theory(cough) that is all mine

 

[Bisto]

yeah you have to rule out drag and wind resistance acting on the sides of the bullets. otherwise, dropped from the same height, at the same time,they will both fall at 9.81 metres per second and will hit the ground at exactly the same time, the fired bullet will just be further away

And (depending on the power of the weapon) curvature of the earth

 

[Blake]

Not quite. The curvature of the Earth plays a part, as the bullet is ultimately going to be travelling in an upward direction. The mass will not be changed by velocity, but the curve of the planet means the trajectory cannot be an exactly constant parallel to the ground.

This is my theory(cough) that is all mine

So if you fly a plane in a 'horizontal' direction you will fly off into space?

 

[Two Professors]

A bullet fired gains velocity & loses weight (cartridge case & propellant) so whole question is irrelevant,but thought provoking!

 

[johnhammond]

So if you fly a plane in a 'horizontal' direction you will fly off into space?

Pretty much I think. Planes would be flying at a certain pressure level which would curve around the planet and they'd be following that round (but it's such a shallow curve of course you'd never notice it). And of course the plane wouldn't be able to cope at the pressures of the upper atmosphere, but that's besides the point.

 

[drew]

Think you lost me there. The angle of trajectory would surely make a difference. If you are aiming at an angle that is not parallel to the ground then the bullet fired has a higher distance to fall before hitting the ground. Otherwise you could point the gun at 90 degrees, ie straight up and I doubt the bullet would hit the ground at the same time the one that is just dropped.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

 

[fleet]

This is negating factors like drag etc though isn't it?



Weight doesn't matter - they both fall downwards with the same acceleration due to gravity
Does the Sniper Rifle fire at exactly the same power every shot? - Don't think this makes a difference, the bullet will just travel further
What is the angle the Sniper Rifle fires at? This matters

Weight must matter as potential energy is mass x gravity x height.

Not certain, but isn't it the case that a bullet that is fired only projects part of it and the case remains and the explosive has gone? So the identical bullet that you drop cannot be identical to the one that was fired can it?

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

So if you fly a plane in a 'horizontal' direction you will fly off into space?

Yes you would, your altitude would change but as long as the plane (without the effect of gravity) flies 'straight' at the same speed and the aerodynamics are not changed, off you would go into a Space Odyssey

 

[NMH]

So if you fly a plane in a 'horizontal' direction you will fly off into space?

Ah well, horizontal would suggest an aeroplane follows the same line as the horizon, which is of course curved!
So no - but a straight line would indeed boldly go ...etc. into space. Gravity presides over the bullets - but enough forward velocity for the fired round would delay and send it ever higher the further it goes from its' origin.

I reckon

 

[HastingsSeagull]

wow this thread is just failure all over

 

[JBizzleBeard]

It's just a very long winded way of saying that all objects dropped from the same height will take the same time to fall from the ground (ignoring air resistance). GCSE phyics

Wtf are phyics?

 

[bobby smith]

OMG i am going back to the discovery channel 2 catch up with u geeks LOL

 

[Seagull27]

Weight must matter as potential energy is mass x gravity x height.

Not certain, but isn't it the case that a bullet that is fired only projects part of it and the case remains and the explosive has gone? So the identical bullet that you drop cannot be identical to the one that was fired can it?

No. The bullets fall from exactly the same height, so starting from zero vertical velocity, they accelerate at exactly the same rate (9.81 m s^-2). Assuming that the resistance forces are the same for each bullet - for example if they were in a vacuum - then they would hit the ground at exactly the same time. This would apply even if you were firing an air rifle pellet and dropping a cannonball. Mass has no effect on the rate at which they hit the ground. Mass comes into play when you think about the force that the bullet hits the ground with, and therefore how much impact it has when it hits the ground, which is where the potential energy is relevant. So it doesn't matter how different the bullets are, as long as the resistance forces on each are equal.

The curvature of the earth could easily be considered to be negligible at the distances concerned so I'm sure that it doesn't matter too much.

 

[fork me]

This is not correct because the time factor involved in the bullet travelling how ever far, has to be taken into consideration so therefore the bullet dropped from the rifle will hit the ground a good deal earlier than the fired one FACT

Totally wrong. The downward movement is not affected by the horizontal movement.