In article ,
"JTMcC" wrote:

"Chris Oates" none wrote in message
...

"Dean" wrote in message
...
This is sort of metalwork - it involves lead. I was watching the Iraqies
celebrating the capture of Saddam by firing their rifles and guns into
the
air. How dangerous are the bullets coming down ? I know they fall back
much
slower than they leave the gun barrel, but they must still be doing a
fair
clip. They said 4 people so far have been killed by this but I guess in
Iraq
its hard to know which bullets came from where. As a few of you know
about
guns I thought I'd ask here.

Yes, same velocity they went up with


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.

No correction. You're 100% right.

I've long since forgotten what the exact number for "terminal velocity"
is (120-ish MPH, isn't it?) but whatever the value is, that's the top
speed Mr. Bullet is going to attain on the way down. Even so, there
*ARE* fatalities from bullets fired skyward, even here in the good ol'
US of A. The last one that happened close enough to me to make the local
rag (and therefore be able to hit my own personal "radar screen") was a
2 year old in Detroit on a new years eve a few years back. Id memory
serves me correctly, the round came in a few degrees off the vertical,
broke her nursery room window, continued into her crib, which was
located just below the window, and hit her in the head.

Idiots forget that "what goes up, must come down".

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