In this column, Cecil discusses the effects of upward shot bullets and whether they can kill on return to earth.
From it, I gather, that the “terminal velocity” of a bullet is less than the speed its speed when it exits the muzzle.
So I wonder: does a bullet, shot down straight from the sky (say, a zeppelin) actually slow down? Any thoughts?
Yes. As long as air resistance is more than the weight, it will slow down.
Kinda foils your plans for an evil zepplin fortress of destruction, doesn’t it?
Nah, it just means you need to use some non-bullet-based weapon.
“Sheesh… I can build a zepplin-mounted death ray; you’d think I could program a stupid camcorder…”
Mythbusters covered this recently. However, their testing rig shot directly up into the air.
The bullets reach a point where they tumble and keep tumbling on their way down. Their estimated speed is based on this state.
However, if you were to fire them at an angle, I suspect they could maintain their nose-forward stabalized orientation throughout the flight, increasing the ballistic efficiency, reducing the effects of drag, and having a higher terminal velocity.
The same would apply to bullets shot downward. I suspect they would hit the ground at significantly higher speed, even from considerable height, than a bullet fired straight up.
Is that a 1920’s style zeppelin-mounted death ray? Because that would be the perfect style to mount on a zeppelin.
The exact quote is “What kind of world is it where a man who can build a zeppelin-mounted death ray can’t even operate a simple camcorder?”. No decade specified, but I suppose it might be 1920s-style.