# Bullets in a vacuum **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 1999, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523 "1999-05-13T11:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 1999, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/21 "1999-06-01T16:32:00Z")
\>\>As to your second question, shooting a gun under water isn’t much different than shooting on land. ## quote: ## the water in the barrel of the gun would block the bullet causing the gun to explode No more than the air in the barrel would block a bullet; the bullet has to travel through the medium of water just as it has to travel through the medium of air, pushing either medium aside as it goes. But water is thousands of times more dense than air, so the bullet would travel much slower and be stopped much sooner. Of course, if you went very, very deep into the ocean, I suppose you might get to a depth where the pressure of the water is so great that it would be easier for the barrel to explode than it would be to expel the bullet into that great pressure (of course, by that pressure, the gun – not to mention you – would probably be crushed, so it’s a moot point anyway).\>\> ``` Wrong on several levels. Air is compressible, and thus relatively easy to drive out in front of the bullet. The amount of water held in the grooves of rifling is capable of wrecking many smaller bore rifles. ``` A firearm would not be damaged by high water pressure -except the cartridges loaded in it. ``` The water pressure is roughly even in all directs, so there would be no point where it was "easier" to burst the barrel due to it. ``` ---
**Author:** ![whatthefee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@whatthefee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatthefee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/22 "2012-05-12T02:41:38Z")
People on the internet used to be so nice and civilized ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/23 "2012-05-12T02:47:04Z")
Can zombies survive in a vacuum? If so, I’m glad my guns work in vacuums. ---
**Author:** ![whatthefee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@whatthefee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatthefee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/24 "2012-05-12T02:54:53Z")
That’s a relief ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/25 "2012-05-12T02:55:15Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Can zombies survive in a vacuum? Apparently not, judging by the (lack of) usernames. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/26 "2012-05-12T02:55:20Z")
That was quite interesting. Like a jaunt into another dimension where posters with no names converse calmly and rationally without resorting to crass behavior. Did Mr. Peabody engage the wayback machine? ---
**Author:** ![whatthefee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@whatthefee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatthefee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/27 "2012-05-12T02:59:22Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Apparently not, judging by the (lack of) usernames. What’s up with that? That would be because this thread was started in 1999 ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/28 "2012-05-12T03:03:08Z")
Surely we must have had a real gunfight on the moon by now. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/29 "2012-05-12T03:10:01Z")
> [@whatthefee](#): > > That would be because this thread was started in 1999 You knew that and decided to resurrect it _ **anyway** _? :dubious: You chose… poorly ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/30 "2012-05-12T03:10:53Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Apparently not, judging by the (lack of) usernames. What’s up with that? zombie or no people were really shy back then. or there really a lot of nameless, faceless people. computer database burp. ---
**Author:** ![whatthefee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@whatthefee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatthefee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523/31 "2012-05-12T03:12:48Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > You knew that and decided to resurrect it _ **anyway** _? :dubious: > > You chose… > poorly I was interested in how civilized the internet used to be, compared to nowadays with all the “trolls” and what not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullets-in-a-vacuum/523.md?page=1)