If you shot a feather out from a gun, would it still hurt you?

Question

i just wondering about and was hoping to get an accurate answer to settle my curiosity. x]

Answer 1

depends on how far away, it's small mass and maleable structure and the fact it would provide exesive resistance counters it.

I'd consider it like wadding...within a foot, severe damage, few feet it might break skin, certainly wouldn'd be fatal, ten feet or more, might just piss you off, 25 -30 feet wouln't make it to you...

This is assuming the blast alone doesn't rip it apart, and basically turn it into wadding. which I believe beyond question it would.

Answer 2

How big a feather are you speaking of ? There are some pretty big birds beside all those little ones. Even the quill of a moderate size bird feather would probably have enough momentum to penetrate your skin if the distance was fairly close. The primary reason being the toughness and long shape of the quill. A large feather could be shot-out - quill first like an arrow from a small caliber rifle. Air resistance would slow it down pretty fast. The bare quill would do much better, but that would be just part of a feather.
Don't try this at home.

Answer 3

that would be very unlikely, if not impossible. Feathers are incredibly light, and to give a force you must have sufficient mass as the equation for force shows, F=ma, although a gun might try to give a feather a great acceleration, it still has practically no mass. This is basically the same concept that has come up on mythbusters a few times, like a penny falling from the empire state building or a playing card flying at 90mph only having enough mass to smart a little, but can't do any real damage.

Answer 4

Chances are, the muzzle blast would destroy the feather. But let's say, hypothetically that we have an indestructible feather.... and we're shooting it from a .223 caliber rifle. The muzzle velocity of that rifle is approximately 3240 feet per second.........

It is a recorded fact that a tornado pushed straw into a tree. Stuck into it like a dart. A tornado usually has wind speeds anywhere from 150 mph to 200 mph in the center. Ok, back to that rifle again....... muzzle velocity is 3240 fps. Do you think that feather could stick into a piece of wood? Hypothetically, it might be possible. So if it could penetrate wood, could it penetrate flesh?

You decide! lol

Answer 5

If the gun is close enough to the victim, it can kill, even with a blank. Actor Jon-Erik Hexum, shot himself in the head with a blank, and died. The force from the gun powder can fracture skulls. The feather would only be added damage.

Answer 6

The feather would not shoot out and even if you could get it to shoot, it wouldn't go far and certainly wouldn't hurt. A feather has very little mass to hurt with and it is so far from aerodynamic that it won't have much velocity either.

Answer 7

I'm not sure but I read once that anything travelling on a high speed can hurt but perhaps a feather can't be shot.

Answer 8

On our planet, it would not, because a feather is not aerodinamic, and it doesnot carry much mass, meaning that the friction it has would slow it down too much. Also, speaking generally, it would burn before it even got out of the gun.

Now, speaking idealogically, if it were in space, with no air, and it did not burn, yes, it would go right through you.

Answer 9

If it was just the quil part of the feather & it was shot from an air nozel or air gun of that type it might penetrate the skin.

Answer 10

If we assume feather would stay in one piece, which is very
unlikely, its shape would reduce its speed very quickly, its
weight is so small it doesn't have much of kinetic energy; as we know for an effective impact both are needed: speed and
mas...