This was a little bit of trivia I picked up somewhere:
If you were on a perfectly flat plane, and fired a bullet perfectly horizontal to the plane, and simultaneously simply dropped an identical bullet from the same height as the fired bullet, which would hit the ground first, the dropped bullet or the fired bullet? The answer is they hit the ground at the same time, gravity affects each bullet identically.
Just about the time I think I understand the physics involved, I think about an actual scenario with a real gun and real bullets.
For argument's sake, let's set the parameters like this:
A)
You're on a perfectly flat planet, no curvature of the earth to deal with.
B)
The bullets are both 180 grain FMJ and the fired bullet is moving at a muzzle velocity of 3000 ft/second (just a tad over 30-06 velocity).
C)
All objects fall at 32ft/second per second so the platform is exactly 32 ft high (one second for the bullet to impact the ground).
D)
There is no air or other resistance factors.
Now, you're 32 feet above the plane, fire the bullet at 3000 ft per second and simultaneously drop an identical bullet from the exact same height. Both bullets will impact the ground at the same time one second later.
The dropped bullet I'm fine with, but will the fired bullet really drop 32 feet over 3000 ft? I find this a little hard to swallow. That's a little over 1/2 mile. I know that the 30-06 drops pretty fast after 600 yds or so, but that fast?
Anybody have any insights before I go insane?
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"Put a rifle in the hands of a Subject, and he immediately becomes a Citizen." -- Jeff Cooper
If you were on a perfectly flat plane, and fired a bullet perfectly horizontal to the plane, and simultaneously simply dropped an identical bullet from the same height as the fired bullet, which would hit the ground first, the dropped bullet or the fired bullet? The answer is they hit the ground at the same time, gravity affects each bullet identically.
Just about the time I think I understand the physics involved, I think about an actual scenario with a real gun and real bullets.
For argument's sake, let's set the parameters like this:
A)
You're on a perfectly flat planet, no curvature of the earth to deal with.
B)
The bullets are both 180 grain FMJ and the fired bullet is moving at a muzzle velocity of 3000 ft/second (just a tad over 30-06 velocity).
C)
All objects fall at 32ft/second per second so the platform is exactly 32 ft high (one second for the bullet to impact the ground).
D)
There is no air or other resistance factors.
Now, you're 32 feet above the plane, fire the bullet at 3000 ft per second and simultaneously drop an identical bullet from the exact same height. Both bullets will impact the ground at the same time one second later.
The dropped bullet I'm fine with, but will the fired bullet really drop 32 feet over 3000 ft? I find this a little hard to swallow. That's a little over 1/2 mile. I know that the 30-06 drops pretty fast after 600 yds or so, but that fast?
Anybody have any insights before I go insane?
------------------
"Put a rifle in the hands of a Subject, and he immediately becomes a Citizen." -- Jeff Cooper