Can a bullet shot in the air come back down and kill?

Question

If not, is there an exact angle known to be lethal?

Answer 1

happens all the time.

Answer 2

Yes. It depends on a lot of factors.

First is the weight of the bullet. While all falling bodies accelerate at the same speed and reach the same terminal velocity the total force with which the bullet strikes depends on the mass of the object.

Secondly, it depends on air density and the ballistic coefficient of the bullet. To make it simple, the shape of the bullet and how much resistance the air has to that shape. Terminal velocity will be slowed based on air resistance. Think about feather and bb. They might weigh the same and be subject to the same force of gravity, but, the atmosphere will resist the movement of the feather more.

Dependent on the variables a bullet, or any object falling from the sky, can kill someone. Or it could give you a bad headache or get lodged in a bra strap.

Also, it depends on how hard and where the body part the bullet strikes is, a baby could be killed more easily than an adult.

The answer is yes, it can.

Ballistics are dependent on so much physics and so many variables that there is no one angle known to be lethal, all angles can be lethal.

Answer 3

I'm sure a bullet COULD come back down and kill but there is no way the an exact angle is known. WAY too many factors would need to be taken into consideration, like wind effects, effects on the path of the bullet from the "rifling" of the barrel, differences in air pressure as the bullet raises/falls would change the direction drastically. If you fired a 9mm exactly straight up into the air, the bullet could land anywhere in > 5 mile circle.

Answer 4

By the time the bullet travels up and runs out of juice and falls, it will mostly bounce harmlessly off your head... however... it might go through your head too if it hits just right. Bullets can be fired at an angle (not straight up) and be very dangerous 2 or 3 miles away. This was used a lot in WW 1 when the guys were in the trenches. They'd set their sights very high and fire all day blindly into the German trenches a mile or two away. Their bullets would fly in a shallow arc. Whether this hurt many Germans is hard to know, but it did give the guys something to do while standing in the mud. But their chance of hitting anything is very slight.

Answer 5

A bullet fired up into the air if fired up and not at trajectory will not kill you. the laws of physics demonstrate that in physics 101.. didn't any of you go to school?
When a bullet is fired up into the air, say straight up it can land anywhere within a few miles of where it was fired from due to wind speed and direction...The bullet reaches its arc and begins to fall back to the earth due to GRAVITY... It then reaches terminal velocity which is determined by the size,shape and mass of the object..a standard 9 mm ,.357 or a 45 cal. reach about 120-50 ft per second.. They do NOT travel at the same speed at which they were sent along their way...Do a little more research before you post outlandish comments like the ones above and below . Ok now to clear up the confusion "Can a bullet fired from a gun INTO the air kill someone" SURE if fired at trajectory, which means... the bullet is still traveling point first and at maximum speed.. That is usually the case when the media reports that a bullet came from the sky and killed someone .

Answer 6

It's interesting to see how many people base opinions on mass media. The answer depends upon two things, bullet mass foremost.

If the bullet is of sufficient mass, such as a .50 BMG then it might be able to cause enough damage to be fatal even if it has lost stability.

If the bullet is of a less exotic variety then it must remain stable to maintain sufficient kinetic energy to induce a fatal injury. In other words, it still has to be on a ballistic trajectory and not in a fall or tumble.

Should the bullet be fired upwards at an acute enough angle that it reaches it's maximum height, "reverses course" and begins to fall AND it is of the more common weight then no, it won't induce a fatal injury.

Also, contrary to what one person mentioned, should the bullet be fired straight up it will not land anywhere within a 5 mile radius. Typically the bullet will land in close proximity to the shooter if fired straight up. The wind has marginal affect dependent upon the wind velocity and bullet weight.

Answer 7

Sorry, but Strike remembers that episode wrong. Mythbusters found it was nearly impossible for a bullet fired straight up, to come back down on the person who fired it. Also, when it comes down, it no longer has the velocity of the gun, but that of something being dropped from the same height. Indeed, it can hit hard enough to kill someone. And this is only if it's shot straight up. At an angle, the bullet is still going to have its velocity and trajectory, and can definitely be lethal.

Answer 8

Absolutely. The laws of physics say that a bullet fired straight up will return to earth at the same velocity at which it was fired, in a vacuum. Because we don't live in a vacuum, it slows. However, it still comes down at enough velocity to kill.
Every year, people are killed by gunshots fired into the air. All over the world.
Wake up, people.

Answer 9

Damned right they can! Any angle can be fatal for the person under it when it comes down. Even if you fire it straight up, it's still deadly when it comes down. While the bullet will reach terminal velocity (at which point it stops moving) at the extreme end of its range, once it starts falling, the speed increases, and by the time it hits the ground it's traveling almost as fast as when it left the barrel. Never shoot into the air unless you're using blanks!

Answer 10

I think Sir Isaac Newton proved the whole gravity thing long ago. At 32 ft per second squared a lead bullet can be lethal at any angle.

Answer 11

Indeed it could, there were a couple of people that killed here in New Orleans while watching the New Years fireworks a few years ago, from people firing guns into the air to celebrate New Years.