# Smoke/steam from bullet holes in humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068 "2016-12-18T19:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mikko\_Halonen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mikko\_Halonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikko_Halonen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/1 "2016-12-18T19:06:55Z")
In the show Sons of Anarchy, you could see smoke or steam coming up from some guys who were shot in a barn. I thought this was weird, but there was a singular mention of smoke coming from bullet holes in a real-life shooting. If you shot someone in the chest from a range of few yards with a pistol or a rifle, would the bullet hole smoke or steam? Source could either be their clothes or tissue. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/2 "2016-12-18T19:17:59Z")
> [@Mikko\_Halonen](#): > > If you shot someone in the chest from a range of few yards with a pistol or a rifle, would the bullet hole smoke or steam? Source could either be their clothes or tissue. Neither. Bullets get moderately hot from the passage through the barrel and deformation by the rifling but they do not get hot enough to produce steam; you can pick up a just fired bullet using an ungloved hand without severe discomfort. They are also not hot enough to ignite combustable materials, though at a near-contact range the muzzle flash (the still-combusting propellant) could possibly ignite tissue paper or something equally flammable. This is just shown for dramatic effect but like people being carried several feet backward by a shotgun blast or accurately firing while driving a car or riding a motorcycle, it is not physically possible. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/3 "2016-12-18T20:01:08Z")
It’s possible for bullets to get hot when thy hit the target (conversion of kinetic energy into heat) - I follow [Taofledermaus](https://www.youtube.com/user/taofledermaus) on YouTube - and some of his test rounds have been almost too hot to handle when pried out of the target - and with some of them, there is a visible flash when they hit a hard target. It does tend to happen more with harder targets though, where the round is stopped in a short distance and the force is not dissipated through a large volume - so it doesn’t seem likely it would happen when a bullet hits a person. In fact… if it happened with people, it would happen when bullets hit ballistic gelatin - and they would melt the gel and sink through it after they were embedded. They don’t/ ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/4 "2016-12-18T20:08:27Z")
Hot blood exiting the hole might steam in cold weather, as well as a shot penetrating the lungs might emit warm, humid air that would steam just like more normally exhaled breath. More likely movie silliness though. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/5 "2016-12-18T20:09:36Z")
I haven’t watched the scene that the OP refers to so I don’t know if the smoke is meant to originate from the heat of the bullet itself or from opening up the chest cavity. I’ve butchered chicken and pigs, and in cold weather you do get a lot of steam coming out of the abdominal cavity once this is opened up to remove the innards. I wonder if a bullet wound to the chest in cold weather would do the same thing. Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/6 "2016-12-18T20:17:08Z")
They were shot in the chest? How cold was it inside the barn. It’s possible for moist air to leave the holes in the chest and create a smoke effect similar to the condensation seen when exhaling through the mouth on a cold day. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/7 "2016-12-18T20:19:36Z")
I’ve seen steam at a dog’s anus when it crapped on a cold day. ISTM that warm, obviously moist, blood could steam if someone is shot on a cold day. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/8 "2016-12-18T21:12:13Z")
Sorry, JLA, I immediately thought that ‘Dog Anus Steam’ will be picked up for a Nordic Thrash-Metal band name in short order. Need to get out more, possibly. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/9 "2016-12-18T21:21:07Z")
I don’t know if the smoke is for dramatic FX but I think it’s the result of the squibs setting off. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/10 "2016-12-18T21:23:47Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > Sorry, JLA, I immediately thought that ‘Dog Anus Steam’ will be picked up for a Nordic Thrash-Metal band name in short order. Need to get out more, possibly. :smack: LOL, The guys in the band, String Cheese Incident, would not explain the name except that it happened in an eatery. They are a jam band and really good. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/11 "2016-12-18T22:44:40Z")
TV and movies don’t give an accurate display of violent human death … except maybe _Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail_ … Consider a container of hydraulic oil … pressurize it … now shoot it with a gun … what have you just been splattered with? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/12 "2016-12-19T00:58:45Z")
Possibly-important nitpick: You’re not asking about steam, which is invisible. What you’re seeing might be fog, which is not the same thing. **Stranger** ’s response that there would not be steam is accurate, but misleading, because there might still be fog. ---
**Author:** ![Mikko\_Halonen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mikko\_Halonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikko_Halonen)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/13 "2016-12-20T18:56:10Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > I don’t know if the smoke is for dramatic FX but I think it’s the result of the squibs setting off. That was my first thought as well. The scene was in California, so it probably wasn’t too cold, but the information about **fog** coming out of butchered chickens was very interesting! ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/14 "2016-12-20T19:45:01Z")
Surprised no one mentioned this scene from Wayne’s World: > [@](#): > > Mikita’s Manager, Glen: You know, if you stab a man in the dead of winter, steam will rise up from the wounds. Indians believed it was his soul escaping from his body. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/15 "2016-12-20T20:07:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve seen steam at a dog’s anus when it crapped on a cold day. Is that line from the extended cut of Roy Batty’s speech in Blade Runner? ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/16 "2016-12-20T21:13:49Z")
With chest wounds, if the lungs take the hit, moist warm air will escape as the lung(s) collapse. On a cold day, night, this can certainly create a foggy/misty result. Also, when blood is along for the ride, the “pink mist” effect comes into play. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/17 "2016-12-20T21:17:21Z")
“When the doctors cut into a patient, and it’s cold, the way it is now today…steam rises from the body…and the doctor will warm his hands over the open wound. How could anybody look upon that and not feel changed?” Father Mulcahey MASH Supposedly that was taken from an account of a doctor who was there. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/18 "2016-12-20T21:36:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Possibly-important nitpick: You’re not asking about steam, which is invisible. What you’re seeing might be fog, which is not the same thing. Nitpick of nitpick: The word “steam” in English can perfectly well be used (and is more often used) to describe a visible mist due to hot water. Nothing wrong with the OP’s usage. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/19 "2016-12-20T21:36:54Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Is that line from the extended cut of Roy Batty’s speech in Blade Runner? Yes. Yes, it was. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068/20 "2016-12-20T23:04:38Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > Nitpick of nitpick: The word “steam” in English can perfectly well be used (and is more often used) to describe a visible mist due to hot water. Nothing wrong with the OP’s usage. I would say that’s pretty much the only word I’ve ever heard used to describe the mist of hot water vapor in colloquial English. Maybe in a pure technical sense the mist is not “steam,” but not to ordinary English speakers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-steam-from-bullet-holes-in-humans/775068.md?page=2)