True or false

chaparral

chaparral

chaparral

Caporegime
Joined
27 Nov 2005
Posts
25,765
Location
Guernsey
If you fire a gun horizontally and drop a bullet from the same height at the same time they will both hit the ground at the same time.
 
Depends on the location of the two bullets. Are they the same calibre? Same type. So many variables!
 
False as the fired bullet would have some blast, heat and air resistance damage making it slightly deformed and .maybe even lighter if only by a few mirco grams
 
Thekwango said:
Maybe it’s because it’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m not a tad tired it the question makes zero sense to me.
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The question more of a case of if an object is projected forward at speed does it still drop (lose height) at the same speed as if the same object was just dropped..
 
didn't mythbusters do this?

the answer could be yes or no in theory depending on how many environmental factors you want to include (like wind downrange, possibility of fired projectile to not be exactly horizontal, how level the ground is etc etc)
 
Bullets are made of lead and so fall from a tower at the same rate as a feather. However, if you put a chicken on a treadmill and then fire the lead bullet from a gun, the chicken will actually out accelerate it (as long as you don't hit the chicken, obviously). The really strange thing happens when you repeat this experiment on a plane, as when I tried it I was physically restrained and then arrested.
 
Mr Badger said:
Bullets are made of lead and so fall from a tower at the same rate as a feather. However, if you put a chicken on a treadmill and then fire the lead bullet from a gun, the chicken will actually out accelerate it (as long as you don't hit the chicken, obviously). The really strange thing happens when you repeat this experiment on a plane, as when I tried it I was physically restrained and then arrested.
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You were only arrested because you contravened section 14a of rule 19 on page 37 of the fourth volume of the physics bible:

"Whilst shooting a chicken on a treadmill, one must be situated on a rotating record player or the results will be invalid"


You got what you deserve you absolute madman.
 
Diddums said:
You were only arrested because you contravened section 14a of rule 19 on page 37 of the fourth volume of the physics bible:

"Whilst shooting a chicken on a treadmill, one must be situated on a rotating record player or the results will be invalid"


You got what you deserve you absolute madman.
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I couldn't find one big enough, plus I had enough trouble getting the treadmill onto the plane. Anyway, the other passengers seemed to have no interest in physics and rather than clear the aisle as requested they were quite positively obstructive. And violent.
 
In a vacuum, in a perfectly level corridor (that doesn't follow the earth's curvature) then yes.

In the real world, no (or at least very unlikely)
 
Mr Badger said:
Bullets are made of lead and so fall from a tower at the same rate as a feather. However, if you put a chicken on a treadmill and then fire the lead bullet from a gun, the chicken will actually out accelerate it (as long as you don't hit the chicken, obviously). The really strange thing happens when you repeat this experiment on a plane, as when I tried it I was physically restrained and then arrested.
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Did the chicken on treadmill take off?
 
Devrij said:
In a vacuum, in a perfectly level corridor (that doesn't follow the earth's curvature) then yes.

In the real world, no (or at least very unlikely)
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only if mavity is assumed to act uniformly downwards along the length of the corridor, otherwise we have to factor in that whilst the floor is "flat" the bullet is travelling tangentially from gravitational pull meaning it'll reduce in magnitude and no longer be acting perfectly downwards (reducing the magnitude), practically speaking it's the equivalent of firing the bullet up hill.

iirc mythbusters proved that in the real world it's pretty damn close, at least within the tolerances they could control.
 
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