If you shot a bullet into space, would it carry on for ever?

Question

If you went up in a space ship and went outside and shot a gun, would the bullet carry on for ever because there is no air in space?

Answer 1

It would carry on untill something slowed it down... like debris or a planet

Answer 2

Nope. Though there is no air *as we know it here on Earth* found in space, there ARE gasses and other matter. It just isn't as concentrated as it is here on Earth.

There are lots of other things to affect the bullet in space also. Gravity is the big one, but also things like the heat & solar wind from ours and all the other suns (stars). Space debris from asteroid collisions or from a comet is lurking out there also - so there is really plenty for a bullet to interact with while in space to slow it down. It would travel for a lot longer than on Earth - but nowhere near forever.

Now - theoretically - if there were indeed nothing at all in space affecting the bullet - it WOULD continue on forever. This means no gravity, no other object to run into, and no gasses at all - even in miniscule amounts.

Answer 3

velocity of a bullet is fairly insignificant on a cosmic scale.

if you shot a gun in earths orbit the planet's gravitational field would take hold and the bullet will either fall to earth and burn up on re-entry or go into a decaying orbit and burn up on re-entry.

if you went beyond the earth's gravitational field the sun's gravitational field would take hold of the bullet.

if you went beyond the sun's gravitational field the nearest star gravitational field would take hold of the bullet.

if you went beyond the galaxy gravitational field the next nearest galaxy gravitational field would take hold of the bullet.

even if you manage to get beyond all the galaxies gravitional fields you still have a problem: for every cubic metre of space there approx 4 hydrogen atoms flowing around and even if you only hit one atom every billion miles eventually enough energy would be lost from hitting the atoms to stop the bullet.

it would take longer than a day but a bit less than infinity.

would a bullet go on for ever in space? the answer is no.

Answer 4

Yes it would. According to Newton's Law of Motion anything will carry on in exactly the same direction, at the same speed unless something gets in the way to stop it (and that something could be an object like an asteroid or space debris, or a force like gravity).

Answer 5

Bullets carry the oxidizer so outside air is not needed. Without air you would not have a bang. You would have recoil. Unless affected by an object or gravity, it would go. Gravity and air friction is what slows it down here on earth.

Answer 6

the bullet would continue on a straight path at a constant speed unless acted upon by another force.

As the bullet left the gun you would move backwards at a speed relative to your mass..you too would continue on a straight path at a constant speed.

So when you fire your gun in space remember to hang on to something.

Answer 7

It would carry on at a constant speed because space is a vacuum and would not slow down until it is pulled into an orbit or hits something

Answer 8

well to start with it would have to be going at an incredible speed to even get out of our solar system, something stupid like 8 miles per second. unfortunately even bullets are subject to gravity. but if for some reason you could get a bullet to go that fast it would immediately be pulled into the sun's gravitational field.

xx

Answer 9

No.

First, unless it's going faster than the escape velocity, it's never going to be able to escape the earth's or the sun's gravity. Guns do not fire bullets fast enough to reach escape velocity, or gun nuts would already have peppered the moon.

After that, the bullet would follow an elliptical path. Depending on where it started, the bullet's orbit would eventually begin to decay from atmospheric drag.

Answer 10

It might just make it out of the barrel, thrust out by the air the gun provides to hurl it out of the barrel. Then it would go just as far as the reserve of air it takes along from the gun itself lets it, and just hang there.

Now if the gun needs outside air to work, your gun would probably be jammed.