Thanks LukeA for the clarification.
Good point. You might (or might not) would lose some skin if you stopped it rotating with your fingers. Subject to LukeA's review, I calculate that spinning 77 grain .223 bullet would release about 20,000 watts of power to your fingers (assuming it only takes 2 rotations to stop). OTOH, that'd be released in only 0.5 milliseconds, and I don't know how much heat skin can absorb in that short period. Copper transfers heat very well, so my guess is that the jacket itself would absorb most the the heat.
As far as relative damage to soft tissue, while the rotation of the bullet may release 20,000 watts, the forward motion releases about 4 million watts (assuming 12" penetration), so even WRT power, as 303Guy suggests, the rotational component is negligible.
Grab a spinning bullet and it's going to go from a few hundred thousand RPM to zero in a short space of time - it's gonna take some flesh with it. The energy may be low but the power could be very high. Power is RATE OF ENERGY TRANSFER. Spread that 'power' over the length of the wound channel it becomes insignifcant.
Good point. You might (or might not) would lose some skin if you stopped it rotating with your fingers. Subject to LukeA's review, I calculate that spinning 77 grain .223 bullet would release about 20,000 watts of power to your fingers (assuming it only takes 2 rotations to stop). OTOH, that'd be released in only 0.5 milliseconds, and I don't know how much heat skin can absorb in that short period. Copper transfers heat very well, so my guess is that the jacket itself would absorb most the the heat.
As far as relative damage to soft tissue, while the rotation of the bullet may release 20,000 watts, the forward motion releases about 4 million watts (assuming 12" penetration), so even WRT power, as 303Guy suggests, the rotational component is negligible.