Is it a myth that a bullet shot in the air straight up can kill someone if it lands on him/her?

Answer 1

As I said 2 months ago, it depends on the mass of the bullet. For two bullets of the same shape and density, a .44 caliber bullet will fall and strike with 128 times the energy of a .22. (That is the 8th power of the caliber.) Of course, not all .44's are equal; some are 180 grains, others are 1000 grains. A 1000 grain bullet, falling at terminal velocity is likely to kill, even if you're wearing a helmet. The more typical 230 grain .44 cal. bullet has a good chance of being fatal if it his your head.

A .22 caliber 100 grain bullet would probably just make a big bump on your head. However, just being startled by a bullet can cause a person to do something fatal, like jump in front of a truck. If a bullet illegally fired into the air even indirectly results in a fatal accident, the shooter is legally responsible. If this happens during the commission of a felony, it could be prosecuted as felony murder in many states.

Answer 2

No it is not a myth. Check the recent news about the people killed by bullets shot into the air by celebrating Iraqis after their team won an Asia Cup match in soccer.

"In Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, the police chief announced a 6 a.m.-9 p.m. vehicle ban Sunday to prevent suicide car bombings. Jamal Dhahir also banned celebratory gunfire, warning that offenders would be jailed and weapons confiscated.

At least seven people were killed in Baghdad by such shooting after the Iraqi victories Sunday against Vietnam and South Korea on Wednesday." [See source.]

Just a bit of thought will convince anyone of intelligence this is not a myth...or some sort of government conspiracy, which seems the standard response to things like this.

What goes up, the bullets, has to come down. Where else would they go? When bullets go up, they have two main forces acting on them: gravity (W) and drag (D) Both are tending to slow the bullet down. Thus f = ma = W + D. The KE = 1/2 mV^2 of the bullet is converted, from the conservation of energy, into potential energy PE = mah; where a = (W + D)/m; so that KE = 1/2 mV^2 = mah = PE and V = sqrt(2ah). [NB: D <> constant; so in fact D force gets smaller as V --> 0 at the maximum height h above the shooter. Even so, the drag comparisons that ensue remain valid.]

Similarly, on the way down PE = ma'h = 1/2 mv^2 = KE, but this time f = ma' = W - d; so that a' = (W - d)/m That is, this time gravity and drag are working in opposite directions. And, to a point, because a' = (W - d)/m < (W + D)/m = a; we see the acceleration down is less than the acceleration up. It then follows, from v = sqrt(2a'h) < sqrt(2ah) = V, that v < V. The impact velocity v is less than the muzzle velocity when the bullet has drag forces in addition to gravity acting on it.

But, and this is a big BUT, just how much less is the issue. The determinent is that drag friction d = 1/2 rho Cd A v^2 as v increases during the fall to reach tv some terminal velocity. A specific solution to this depends on bullet specific characteristics: the coeffiecient of drag Cd and its cross sectional area A. It does not depend on the mass of the bullet m. rho is the density of the air the bullet falls through.

Less stream lined bullets will have higher Cd's. Fatter bullets will have higher A's. So blunt, fat bullets will reach terminal velocity (tv) at lower tv than pointy, slender bullets will.

Anyhow, the Iraqi case and many others like it prove over and over that vt is often great enough to kill anyone the falling bullet hits. In fact,

"The terminal velocity of a feather may be only 2 feet per second because of its shape and density, but the terminal velocity of a bullet could be 300 or 400 feet per second. This could be about 300 miles per hour." [See source.]

I think it's easy to conclude a piece of lead flying at one's head at 300 mph could do some serious damage, even if that velocity is not muzzle velocity. By the way, if all this happened in a vacuum, drag D = 0 = d; and then v would indeed equal V.

Answer 3

Myth Busters pretty much proved that a vertical fired bullet won't kill you but there is evidence IE the Baghdad Soccer celebration last week, that a bullet fired steeply upward can kill on the way down

Answer 4

this is a myth, yes it must come back down but it has what is called a terminal velocity of about 30 mph. this means that at thirty miles per hour, the air friction ballences out the acceleration of gravity and it wont accelerate or deccelerate. this means that even if you fired a bullet from space it would slow down to 30 mph and not have enough energy when it hits someone to kill them.

different story if it hits them in the eye or something like that though!

p.s. lockedjew is theoretically correvt, but in reality, everything in some sort of atmosphere, and absent of an outside force, has a terminal velocity.

Answer 5

No, it is absolutely not a myth.
Anything that goes up has to come down. By kinetics and parabolic motion, the bullet coming down has the same speed at any given height that it had at that height when it was going up. So, if the bullet comes out of the gun at head height, it will return to head height at the velocity of a point-blank shot.
Depending on the bullet caliber and quality, it might not survive the flight and impact, in which case it wouldn't cause any serious damage. But if it does survive, odds are somebody else doesn't.

Answer 6

it is possible in a vacuum.
but in real life situation, there are other resistive forces, therefore there will be a terminal velocity. so there is a maximum speed it can reach.
if the bullet is of very small mass, it might not be able kill, because it cant cause much force. but still can cause pressure.
it really depends on where is hits as well. if it hits on the hand or sumthing you wont die. but if it hits a vital point.. then death is possible

Answer 7

It doesn't even have to shot straight up. Celebratory fire routinely kills people in countries where it is practiced. See Iraq after the recent victory in the Asian games.

Answer 8

it could kill him/her but usually the bullet would disinagrate or go in a different direction