can fallling bullets kill?

Question

if you shoot a bullet in the air on an angle(45) then is that bullet lethal.a bullet shot straight up falls back down to earth on its side has been proven. but what about if the bullet was shot on a 45 degress angle. would that bullet pick up speed and be deadly. i guess its back to the desert....

Answer 1

yes, there are cases where people have been killed or injured by falling bullets

Answer 2

For the straight fall (gun fired in the air), it would depend on the calibre of the round, since its kinetic energy on impact would have to be large enough to penetrate the skull of the unfortunate who happened to be standing underneath.
The speed of the bullet falling to the ground would not be the same as that at which it was shot. Air resistance would slow it quite a bit, absorbing the energy imparted by the cartridge. It would fall at a "terminal velocity" determined by the calculation of its aerodynamic properties, mass, and distance fallen.
Thus a .22 caliber slug or a BB (or a penny, for that matter) could fall for miles and not impart enough energy to penetrate a human's skull. Okay, maybe a baby with a soft fontenelle (or however they spell it) would be fatally injured.
However, a larger caliber slug ... a .45 or .308 or one of the military rounds (7.65 mm or 9 mm) could in fact, kill a person, regardless of whether or not it impacts "on its side".
At a 45 degree angle, the answer, again, would depend on the calibre, slug weight and muzzle velocity ... but the answer would be "definitely maybe".
Choose the right ammo, the right powder load, the right weapon, and a 45 degree (max range) shot would be lethal.
Aiming would be a trick, but that's a different tale, int it?

Answer 3

The bullet would be potentially as lethal until all its energy was expended. If it goes up it must come down. If it expends its energy going up it will gain some if not most of that energy back in falling back to earth. Let it hit you in the head in the right spot and 25 miles an hour is enough to kill you.

Answer 4

Oh yes.

Regardless of the firing angle, a bullet will be back to earth at almost the same speed it had when it was shot.

Answer 5

Yup. It happens every so often in urban areas especially during News Years and the 4th of July. Peole shoot in the air and the bullet just hapens to nail someone by accidentally

Answer 6

I dont think it would pick up speed, I would assume it would decelerate because of the gradual climb and gradual decent. Test the theory with a ball, when you throw it at a 45 degree angle does it accelerate as it falls or fall at a constant rate. hmm, think out loud, since it is a parabola, I would eventually reach a climb of zero and then start to decend. at a rate of -9m/s i think is the rate of accelaration downward, straight foward, doesnt it maintain its speed. Didnt close air support bombers encounter this in Vietnam where the bombs they dropped fell at the same speed as when released and some of the jets couldnt climb fast enough so the bomb blew up underneath them causing minor damage to the aircraft. Hmm now you got me thinking.

Answer 7

it is very deadly... even if it falls on its side or what so ever... in the Philippines, during Christmas and New Year and even fiests, there are many cases of falling bullets not just injuring but killing people...

the down ward velocity could somtimes surpass the upward velocity...

Answer 8

Yes

Answer 9

its only deadly if it is shot in the direction of a population...falling bullets have killed people, that is why it is outlawed to shoot your gun in the cities.

Answer 10

No, if the bullets are fallen they can't get to what they need to kill