Can you fire a bullet in space?

Question

My friend and I were wondering, Is it possible to fire a bullet in space? If so, will it be moving at lethal force?

Answer 1

adriantheace has it about right.

Most explosives contain their own oxygen so the absence of air in space is not an issue.

When you fire the gun the the bullet comes out at speed and you will go backward slowly (conservation of momentum will mean this is set by massbullet x velocitybullet = masshuman x velocity human)

The bullet will continue on for ever (almost) since their is no friction unless it hits a planet, moon or black hole! And because there is no turbulence or cross winds you can kill people at 10km if you have good enough sights.

The bullet will kill you in just the same way as on earth and if you are lucky enough for it to hit a non leathal part of your body it will puncture your space suit which will depresurise and your blood will boil and you will die horribly... Urgh...

So guns are just as nasty in space as on earth.

Answer 2

A gun can fire a bullet in space. All the gun does is change the velocity of the bullet relative to the gun, changing its orbit. Suppose you had a (fairly slow muzzle velocity) gun with a muzzle velocity of 1000 feet per second, and you were in space, traveling in the International Space Station. You put on your space suit, go outside, and shoot the gun. If you pointed the gun in the direction the ISS is traveling, you just added 1000 fps to the velocity, putting the bullet into a higher orbit, but with a perigee at the same height as you were when you fired the gun. After some large number of orbits, the bullet and the ISS may come close together again, with the bullet again having a relative velocity of 1000 fps. This could cause damage to the ISS or an astronaut working outside at the time. Probably a bad idea. Firing the gun opposite to the direction the ISS is traveling will cause the bullet to have a lower orbit, and its apogee will be the same height as you were when you fired the gun. Likewise, after a large number of orbits, the bullet would come close to the ISS again, this time also with a relative velocity of 1000 fps, and again could cause damage to the ISS or injury to an astronaut. Note that even here on Earth, the bullet or shell fired from a gun is really in an orbit, just one that intersects the surface of the Earth if it misses everything else near its path. Of course, this bullet or shell has air friction as well.

Answer 3

Yes, you can fire a bullet in space.
The bullet will travel at a velocity even greater than that within the earths atmosphere since pressure is zero (i.e. air mass does not have to be moved out of the gun barrel by the advancing bullet).

As well, the bullet will travel at this velocity for a very very long distance and period of time until is hits something solid or until it hits enough atomic particles (Yes ... there are particles in space ... just not very many) to eventually slow it down and stop it. I have no idea how far that would be, but I would guess that it would travel an incredible distance for a many eons.

As for oxygen required for the detonation (i.e. nothing burns without oxygen)... well, gunpowder carries its own. That's why a gun can also be fired underwater (as long as the bullets are waterproof and the powder stays dry), but this may result in damage to the gun due to the mass of water which must be pushed out the barrel ... thus increasing the mass which must be accelerated out of the barrel. I think this would also cause the gun to have quite a kickback underwater.

Answer 4

Sure you can. If you've got a gun with a muzzle speed of the escape velocity from the Earth (that's 26'000mph) plus some more to compensate for air friction. And if the bullet can take the heat that will be generated by friction.

Now of course the problem is that guns will typically have nozzle speeds of 1'000 to 1'500mph, if that. So you'd need a very, very powerful gun. Not sure it is feasible (seems very unlikely).

Now it you managed the trick, your bullet would be moving in space at a high speed, and so would clearly be lethal, and would easily pierce the hull of any space ship (just like many small meteorites do).

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Answer 5

assuming you have the nessesary oxygen in the gun already. either in chemical compounds or by itself,(which i believe is a standard condition, there are plenty of guns that can fire under water) you could fire it and it would travel at a much greater speed and it would basicly never slow down (due to the lack of air resistance) untill it hit something

in adition the amount you move will be very small for small guns just as on earth
like everyone has said there is a equal and oposite reaction
those eqaulities however are the momentum of each object which is mas time velocity. assuming you have a bullet going 975 m/s and it wieghs about 10 grams that would be a momentum of 9.75 kg m /s and then lets say the person weighed 50 (110 pounds)kilograms their resultant velocity would be .195 m/s (.43 miles per hour) if the person is hevier this speed would be reduced even more

Answer 6

yes you can fire a bullet in space, as the hammer hits the bullet it will still create the small explosion which will propell the bullet forward, the bullet will travel indefinately because there is no force acting on the bullet to slow it down. If you shoot someone in a spacesuit, then the suit will puncture, which would be fatal. If you have your own spaceship then try it!

Answer 7

the cartridge contains all the necessary ingredients for the chemical reaction of fire and compressed gasses to propell a bullet or projectile from the barrel into any object within range. In the condition of outer space, it won't take much to penetrate a space suit and cause harm to the being being struck.

Answer 8

yes a bullet can be fired in space and without friction it would never stop unless it hit a planet or sun. if it caught a gravitational well near a planet it would move at speeds capable of destroying spacecraft. if you were to fire it in space above the earth at the far horizon it would be a hazard to shuttles and stuff.

Answer 9

Yes, you can fire a bullet in space. Its reaction is the same, combustion, causing forward movement. our spaceships use combustion for major movements in space.

Lethal force? That would depend on how far away your target is. There is less friction in space, so it can go faster and farther, but your target would have the ability to move with the bullet, which could reduce its potency. dont know on that one

Answer 10

I would say yes. Space should have no effect on the functions of the gun. I would also say that the bullet would not be moving at a lethal rate. Once it exits the gun, I would think that the bullet would slow down dramatically.

*Don't believe everything you see in movies.