- #1
latentcorpse
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Apologies if this is the wrong forum but it's certainly a physics question I've been wondering about:
I've been watching all this Libya stuff unravel on the news and can't help but notice all these guys firing their AK47s vertically upwards. Surely that bullet should then return to Earth at the same speed as it left the gun at (minus air resistance effects obviously)? Obviously it owuld be difficult to fire it exactly 90 degrees to the surface of the Earth so that it came back down and hit you on the head but surely it must be possible that it could go up and come back down and land relatively close by?
So my question is, why does this not happen? Why do people not die from these returning bullets? Do they break up in the atmosphere or something?
Thanks.
I've been watching all this Libya stuff unravel on the news and can't help but notice all these guys firing their AK47s vertically upwards. Surely that bullet should then return to Earth at the same speed as it left the gun at (minus air resistance effects obviously)? Obviously it owuld be difficult to fire it exactly 90 degrees to the surface of the Earth so that it came back down and hit you on the head but surely it must be possible that it could go up and come back down and land relatively close by?
So my question is, why does this not happen? Why do people not die from these returning bullets? Do they break up in the atmosphere or something?
Thanks.