Falling Projectiles Question

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Remember, the world record for survived freefall by a human being is something like 35,000 feet. A lady in a plane blown up by terrorists landed in the roof of a church, I think, and survived. Somewhere in Germany or eastern Europe or something. Back in the 70s? I don't remember, but it's a pretty incredible story, if you think about it. I'm just too lazy to look it up right now. lol

This reminded me of that skydiver who jumped out of a balloon from some skabillion-thousand feet and the air was so thin that he exceeded the speed of sound before the air gradually became dense enough to start slowing him down.

Woody

EDIT:

Here is a Youtube of the event.

 

[CharlieWH2O]

Some years back i had a leak over my attached garage. On inspecting the roof I found a 9 mm bullet lodged in the deck. There was also an officer at the PD I was a member of who with other officers were discharging firearms into the air while imbibing. A bullet fell back and struck him in the head penetrating his skull. He survived but was never really right after (not that he really was before). Talk about winning the lottery? I'm not really sure the difference in weight will have much to do with the velocity.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

I could be wrong, but as I see it, if you shoot a bullet straight up into the air, it’s going to get to a point where it’s no longer propelled and then falls back to earth under its own weight.

An interesting test would be to take bullets of different weights to a similar height and drop them. How to measure the force of the impact? I have no idea.

 

[Okie4570]

Most of the physics examples of free fall and motion that you find take place in a vacuum, so not real world results. A bullet from a free fall at it's maximum height in the sky, meets air resistance the entire way down, just as it did going up but the falling bullet will never reach the same velocity it did when it left the barrel. Enough to kill you if struck in the head while standing outside yes, while inside the house??? Only if the bullet has enough mass to penetrate the roof, how much is enough mass, I don't know, many variables. If you're in your house and are killed by a falling projectile of any kind, it was simply your time to depart this Earth lol.

 

[Okie4570]

Some years back i had a leak over my attached garage. On inspecting the roof I found a 9 mm bullet lodged in the deck. There was also an officer at the PD I was a member of who with other officers were discharging firearms into the air while imbibing. A bullet fell back and struck him in the head penetrating his skull. He survived but was never really right after (not that he really was before). Talk about winning the lottery? I'm not really sure the difference in weight will have much to do with the velocity.

Was the 9mm bullet point down or had it tumbled?

 

[cjjtulsa]

Most of the physics examples of free fall and motion that you find take place in a vacuum, so not real world results. A bullet from a free fall at it's maximum height in the sky, meets air resistance the entire way down, just as it did going up but the falling bullet will never reach the same velocity it did when it left the barrel. Enough to kill you if struck in the head while standing outside yes, while inside the house??? Only if the bullet has enough mass to penetrate the roof, how much is enough mass, I don't know, many variables. If you're in your house and are killed by a falling projectile of any kind, it was simply your time to depart this Earth lol.

See - that was my thinking. Think dropping a ping pong ball, and a ball of lead the same size, from the same height. Aerodynamics are a wash, but the speed and impact would be determined by the difference in mass.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Pretty sure Mythbusters did the science and Busted the myth of the falling bullet. It's on YouTube.

All the same, if a bullet is still fallowing trajectory on a very high arc, that will still kill a person... but at that point, it's not yet a falling bullet.

 

[donner]

See - that was my thinking. Think dropping a ping pong ball, and a ball of lead the same size, from the same height. Aerodynamics are a wash, but the speed and impact would be determined by the difference in mass.

Apollo 15 proved that Galileo was correct, a hammer and a feather will fall at the same speed in a vacuum. That is, all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass

 

[inactive]

Apollo 15 proved that Galileo was correct, a hammer and a feather will fall at the same speed in a vacuum. That is, all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass

And we're supposed to believe this is real footage? Pfft....

 

[CharlieWH2O]

Was the 9mm bullet point down or had it tumbled?

As I recall it was more sideways base down.