Could you possibly see a bullet flying at you?

Question

I know this is an odd question but the question is being debated here today. If shot straight at your head, could you possibly perceive optically and or cognitively, a smallish caliber bullet? Is the framerate of the eye and optical processing wetware fast enough that you'd see such a small object and if so, what's the minimum distance between gun and target?

Answer 1

If you think for a moment about frame rates that the human eye considers continuous, you find that anything slower than about 16 frames per second will be perceived as "jerky", while 16 fps and above seems "smooth".

Think about the speed of a bullet... the slowest bullet still travels about 600 feet per second. In 1/16 of a second, it will have traveled 37.5 feet!

Now think about the size of a bullet. 20/20 vision says you can resolve the characters on the eye chart on the "20/20" line at a distance of 20 feet from the chart. The characters on that line are approximately the size of a bullet (look at a chart next time you see one).

I think it would be very unlikely that you could resolve a bullet flying towards you soon enough to even realize what it was, not even taking into account the delay factors of neural transmission, pattern recognition in the brain, etc.

Answer 2

I wouldn't speculate on a bullet shot directly at your head, because it would be the last thing you ever saw, no matter WHAT distance it was fired at........BUT.....
Your question is not as odd as you may think, nor is the correct answer, believe it or not....
I have personally seen bullets in flight, fired from modern pistols, in particular, a bright, shiny, copper jacketed .45 ACP bullet ( 230gr. FMJ U.S. military surplus loading) fired from a H-K USP .45, muzzle velocity app. 850fps. This was in bright daylight and I was standing approximately five feet to the right of the shooter. The bullet appeared to be a bright streak from the muzzle of the weapon, seen an instant before it impacted in the dirt backstop.
Rifle bullets, which travel at much higher velocities(2000fps+ and up) are probably invisible to the eye, especially head on, but the same conditions might occur. I'll have to give it a try my next trip to the range with one of my rifles.

Answer 3

If it were coming directly at the retina, in a straight line, and you were in a fixed position and it stopped before it could damage you to allow you to process it, you'd see it without a doubt. You'd need only a fraction of a second to process it, and if you were fixed and it was traveling in a line, it would be in the same location in 2dspace for quite a while, appearing to grow. (Practice it in slow motion with a ball or something.)
However, there are more factors than the speed of the transmission of the image at work here. We know not everyone processes exactly the same things at the exact same speeds, so YOU might not be able to see it, but LabGrrrrrrrrrrrl the lab ninja might.

Answer 4

I'd think it may be too fast, however there's the whole seeing it in slow motion because you think you're about to die etc. You may see an image of a bullet because you'd hear the bang, but I think if a bullet is shot at you, being able to see it would be the last thing on your mind

Answer 5

You can see a bb traveling directly away from you, so it follows that you would be able to see one coming toward you. A bullet from a real gun goes much too fast, I think.

Answer 6

It's got to do with size and speed. People saw cruise missiles making turns before hitting in Baghdad. No, a bullet is too fast.

Answer 7

Of course you can they even dodge them on the Matrix

Answer 8

Yes...but by that time, the person is already into the next dimension (hell).

Answer 9

The Person would say "Is th..." bang!!

Answer 10

Don't think so.