can a bullet falling from the sky injure someone?

Answer 1

Yes, The Iraqi's fire there weapons in celibration and during the Olympics several soldier's were injured by falling bullets when the Iraq soccer team got to the semi-finals.

"Firing handguns into the air is commonplace in some parts of the world and causes injuries with a disproportionate number of fatalities. For a typical modern 7.62 millimetre calibre bullet fired vertically from a rifle, the bullet will have a velocity of about 840 metres per second as it leaves the muzzle and will reach a height of about 2400 metres in some 17 seconds. It will then take another 40 seconds or so to return to the ground, usually at a relatively low speed which approximates to the terminal velocity. This part of the bullet's trajectory will normally be flown base first since the bullet is actually more stable in rearward than in forward flight.

Even with a truly vertical launch, the bullet can move some distance sideways. It will spend about 8 seconds at between 2300 and 2400 metres and at a vertical velocity of less than 40 metres per second. In this time it is particularly susceptible to lateral movement by the wind. It will return to the ground at a speed of some 70 metres per second. This sounds quite low but, because of the predominance of cranial injuries, the proportion of deaths and serious injury as a proportion of the number of gunshot wounds is surprisingly high. It is typically some five times more than is observed in normal firing."
"According to tests undertaken by Browning at the beginning of the century and recently by L .C. Haag, the bullet velocity required for skin penetration is between 45 and 60 metres per second which is within the velocity range of falling bullets. Of course, skin penetration is not required in order to cause serious or fatal injury and any responsible person will never fire bullets into the air in this manner."

In response to the mythbusters...In the case of a bullet fired at a precisely vertical angle (something extremely difficult for a human being to duplicate), the bullet would tumble, lose its spin, and fall at a much slower speed due to terminal velocity and is therefore rendered less than lethal on impact. However, if a bullet is fired upward at a non-vertical angle (a far more probable possibility), it will maintain its spin and will reach a high enough speed to be lethal on impact. Because of this potentiality, firing a gun into the air is illegal in most states, and even in the states that it is legal, it is not recommended by the police. Also the MythBusters were able to identify two people who had been injured by falling bullets, one of them fatally injured. To date, this is the only myth to receive all three ratings at the same time. If it can kill you it can injure you.

Answer 2

Injure? Definitely. Kill? Possible, but not likely.

Mythbusters handled this one in Episode 50. The key ingredient seems to be the trajectory that the bullet takes. Straight up in the air is less likely to kill someone than a bullet fired at more of an angle.

A bullet fired straight up will reach a certain maximum velocity during its fall which is much less than the muzzle velocity (only about 100 mph IIRC). Also, a falling bullet is most stable on its side and, as a result will tend to hit something with its largest surface area, distributing whatever force it has.

A bullet fired at a flatter trajectory will retain some of the muzzle velocity and is therefore more likely to do damage and more likely to strike a target with its nose end, which has less surface area than its side and therefore will deliver the force to a smaller area than a falling bullet.

Answer 3

The bullet comes back to the earth only falling at about 135 miles an hour, not enough to kill anyone, but it will hurt a little)
If you fire a bullet: This all depends on the size of bullet, the size of the shell, and most of all the different directions of winds straight up. I can tell you now, that all falling objects (not feather, but solid objects) will fall at terminal velosity which is 120 knots. As you fall back to earth especially with an open parachute, you notice that there are different wind directions you have to deal with. Some bullets can go 1 mile and beyond, so there is a lot to consider.

Answer 4

Yes, of course. All objects are affected by gravity, therefore a bullet shot into the sky will eventually be pulled back to earth by gravity. A bullet fired straight up will not land at the exact spot it was fired due to several factors while a bullet fired at an angle could end up miles away. Guns should never be fired in to the air for any reason due the unknown location of where the bullet will land and the danger it poses to people, animals, and property.

Answer 5

The simple answer is yes. If a bullet is fired and drops down enough to hit someone it will certainly have enough velocity to injure or kill a person. However, if a bullet is falling solely because of gravity (like if it is fired straight up and falls down) then it's falling speed is limited (gravity pulls things down at 9.8m/s) and depending on its mass it probably won't cause any serious damage. It's the same principal as throwing a penny off the empire state building. The penny can't kill anyone because it doesn't weigh enough, regardless of how high you drop it from. Still, don't start shooting guns in the air just because it probably won't kill anyone :)

Answer 6

Injure - Yes.

Kill - It depends.

Here in Phoenix, we have people who shoot guns up into the sky on New Years and the Fourth of July. Occasionally, someone gets hit.

There is a law here, referred to a Shannon's Law, because a girl named Shannon Smith was killed by a bullet that had been fired into the air.

The show MythBusters took a look at this, and they found that a bullet dropped, or fired straight up in the air is unlikely to kill, because it begins to tumble, and loses velocity.

If it is fired on an angle, it remains ballistic, or going straight, and can keep enough speed to kill someone.

Answer 7

It can injure them or make them dead. There have been a lot of people become a victim of some yahoo's stray bullet fired into the air for fun. It is never a good practice to disregard safety. Don't let yourself be convinced that it couldn't do that type of damage.

Answer 8

yes because the bullet will go into the air and come to rest at some point because of gravity and then gravaty pulls it down again and it will fall at a slightly slower speed but it will com back down with enough speed to cause damage

Answer 9

Go with Eric J. If a bullet is fired straight up, it tumbles and losses speed due to air friction. If fired in an arc it stays aerodynamic and remains deadly.

Answer 10

Yes it can. All depends on velocity and at what point and angle on the body it hits. If you were to be looking Up for instance like at a 4Th. of July Fire Works Show and it were to hit the area right below your Adams Apple for example it could penetrate your throat and hit lungs, heart or f few other mortal places.
Not to mention EYES, or TEETH ! ! !