When guns are fired in the air why isn't anyone ever shot in the top of the head by a bullet coming back down?

Answer 1

It happens quit often in the countries that use weapons to celebrate!
A bullet falling at terminal velocity is a dangerous situation!
Firing guns 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 millimeter caliber bullet fired vertically from a rifle, the bullet will have a velocity of about 840 meters per second as it leaves the muzzle and will reach a height of about 2400 meters 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 meters and at a vertical velocity of less than 40 meters 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 meters 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.

Answer 2

Look upon it as an exercise in probability. Calculate the cross sectional area of a bullet, the cross sectional area of a person, the population density of a given area. The given area would have to be a significant proportion of the area that could be covered by bullet fired in any direction.

You're the maths experts... you figure it out.

Answer 3

In my humble opinion, you have a long way to go before you're ready to be published. Your story lacks in substance. Your grammar needs a lot of work. Your main character is undeveloped. You have little voice. The list goes on, but I'll stop there. Keep writing, and try reading other books to improve your own style and grammar. But I think you should give up on being the youngest writer ever. There are plenty of younger authors already published.

Answer 4

Its very possible for someone to be hit with the bullet coming down. It would not fall at the same rate it came out at, so it would be like dropping the bullet on someones head from a height of 1000 feet or so. It might surprise the person, but its not likely it would have enough force to do any damage, unless it hit they eyeball or something.

Answer 5

I wonder the same thing about rockets fired on Bonfire night, especially those mega big ones with the sticks that are about 3 feet long and nearly 1/2 " square. They would probably do more damage! Can you be prosecuted if this skewers someone on the way down?

Answer 6

People are shot by bullets that have been fired in the air. You will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.. You will be arrested if bullets are fired in the air--OK

Answer 7

Actually- quite a few people during WWII were killed by falling bullet casings and shells.
So it isn't exactly myth.

Answer 8

They are. Many people have been injured or killed by this dangerous and foolish practice. Military ceremonies use blanks, so there is no bullet.

Answer 9

maybe it does hit someone but would not harm the person seen the bullet has lost so much momentum on it way up and fall like every other object

Answer 10

They are many times. Quite often it is blamed on a drive by,instead of what actually caused it.