On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 02:23:58 GMT, the renowned "JTMcC"
wrote:

That sure doesn't sound right to me. A bullet or any other object fired into
the air, let's say straight up to keep it simple, will slow until it finally
stops and begins to fall back to earth. I would think the effect of gravity
and wind resistance would determine the maximun velocity of the falling
bullet (object), not the velocity at which it was fired upward with. The
same speed would be realized as if you had simply dropped the bullet
(object) at the same altitude from a hot air balloon. Feel free to correct
me if I'm wrong.

Yes, provided it reaches terminal velocity from that height.
There was a recent, long and annoying thread on this in
sci.electronics.design which I considered x-posting here.. one of the
more amusing physics thought experiments was if you fired a bullet
from the imaginary surface of a stationary planet with no atmosphere
directly vertically (at less muzzle than escape velocity- no problem
with that on Earth), it would return at exactly the same speed as it
left the muzzle, in the reverse direction. Ouch.

In real conditions, if a relatively heavy bullet isn't tumbling I
could see it coming back fast enough to potentially hurt someone
(imagine, say, a 180 MPH pointy metal object falling on your skull).
But people don't always fire them straight up, which could be worse
again. There was apparently a law (called Shannon's Law) passed in
Phoenix AZ due to a youth killed from a celebratory gun firing..
common in the Hispanic community.

Gunner probably has all the facts at his fingertips on this...

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
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