When you shoot a bullet from a train that moves as fast as the bullet would come out of a gun, but in opposite direction. Would the bullet just drop on the floor, without foreward motion relative to the ground? Let's make that a vacuum space this all happens in. :-)
2007-06-12 08:44:50 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
There's a Japanese video demonstrating this effect, so why don't you watch it and see for yourself?
2007-06-12 08:48:01 · answer #1 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the train is moving in a different direction to the point which you aim the gun, then to a observer who was standing relatively still, i.e. on a bank watching the train, it would appear as if the bullet drops to the ground at the same point, however for the person on the train the bullet will move away from them at a constant rate, the bullets speed So it will look like a parabola
2007-06-12 15:50:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are holding the gun outside the window and shooting towards the back of the train, yes. The bullet would drop to the ground just below the point where you fired it. It wouldn't matter if there was air or not. The bullet would not be moving relative to the air
Also, the gun does not require air to fire. It can be fired under water, as well as in a vacuum. The oxygen used in the explosion is contained in the gunpowder.
2007-06-12 16:19:23 · answer #3 · answered by mr.perfesser 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The bullet still has momentum before it is shot. Shooting the bullet changes the momentum. The bullet would fly out the back of the train and land on the ground directly below where it was shot (on the train) i.e. if someone was watching from the outside, the bullet would appear to drop.
The video proffered by scythian is definitive. Interestingly, it appears at first glance that the ball retains some of the truck's momentum. But this is undoubtedly due to the spin imposed by the chucker. They should have used a side to side chucker or make sure that the two wheels are spinning precisely as so not to impart spin!
Observation supports hypothesis. Reject the null!
2007-06-12 15:49:43 · answer #4 · answered by gebobs 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course not, the bullet would be travelling twice as fast since the gun, itself, is travelling relative to the speed of the train it is being fired from.
2007-06-12 15:48:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
the gun would not fire in a vaccuum, as the powder explosion requires oxygen, but in a normal environment, yes, the bullet would fall if you could get it to fire directly opposite the direction of the train.
more importantly, if you ran faster than the speed of light around the world, what would you see when you caught up with your image? if you stopped, would you see yourself run away? if you keep running but slow down to the speed of light, will you be running beside yourself, or will you just see a blur or nothing at all? does what you see change depending on the viewing angle if you are travelling at light speed?
2007-06-12 16:02:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, the bullet is still moving no matter how fast you are going. It's just that it appears not to be if you are beside it and it's going as fast as you are.
2007-06-12 15:49:25 · answer #7 · answered by Cole Cooper™ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Negative because your platform is moving at speed then from that speed the projectile would be moving at rate so the bullet would ostensibly be doing double speed.
2007-06-12 15:49:03 · answer #8 · answered by sausage_eater 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sure...the movement is free falling, has nothing to do with the horizontal one. I've tried it with a pebble, it worked.
2007-06-12 16:00:10 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yep, you're negating the forward velocity. It drops.
2007-06-12 15:48:25 · answer #10 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋