I have always been curious to know, what happens to bullets shot in outer space?

Question

what if an astronaut shoots a gun, does the bullet travel just like on earth, or does it float like the astronaut??

Answer 1

It would continue to travel at the speed it was fired until it hit some resistance, like some sort of debris.

Answer 2

Ah, an inquiry that warms the hearts of gun-toting physicists. The peacenik response might be...nothing. A gun cartridge holds the bullet or metal tip and the gunpowder (yup, they still use that stuff). The latter requires a spark, a nifty chemical reaction that involves oxygen, which tends to be sorely lacking in space. However, forward-thinking manufacturers have packed an oxidizer within the bullet casing. Whether that's sufficient for an explosive launch is up for much debate.

That doesn't satisfy our bloodlust, does it? We'll assume we can send the bullet on its merry way with the proper gun. The scenario then conjures up the classic physics poser of shooting the monkey. Since we find shooting a cute primate abhorrent, we'll sub in the garden gnome.

Where you're standing when you execute this maneuver, such as within a planet's gravitational pull, would affect the bullet's speed and path. As long as your aim is true, the bullet would travel a straight line (aka Newton's first law of motion) until some sort of force or object impedes it. Meanwhile, the recoil (Newton's third law) has pushed you back with an equal and opposite force.

The next question is, can you fire off another shot? A regular old earth gun likely won't cotton to its new environment and may seize up, blow up, or do something equally annoying. Plus, we've littered space with enough dangerous debris already, do we really need to have bullets go flying?

Answer 3

The bullet will travel one direction and the astronaut will go the other - or the astronaut and vehicle will head one way a little and the bullet will go a long ways the other. Throwing something away from you is the main way to move in space. The bullet will travel a long way though, without the resistance of air, but it will eventually fall into the gravitational well of the Earth or other nearest large body and in the case if Earth, it will burn up in the atmosphere on re-entry.

Answer 4

A bullet fired in space would be effected the same as any other object. If it were fired far out in space a long way away from any star or planet, it would continue at the same speed it left the muzzle of the gun at for all eternity (no air to slow it down).

If fired in earth orbit it "might" enter an orbit around the earth, or it might end up decaying and falling to earth as a meterorite, or it might fall into the sun.

Richard

Answer 5

till i'm lacking some thing, the gun will fire, quite usually, yet with probable greater kick. without resistance of the air, the bullet will shuttle plenty speedier than established, and it will bypass in an actually at present line considering the fact that there is no (interior reach) gravity pulling on it. Your physique has inertia, so the bullet will hit you as established and if it strikes you in a needed place....you will die. the only caveat i can think of of is, the temperature in area is quite chilly, variety of 3K i've got self assurance. If the coefficients of growth/contraction of the bullet and gun barrel are matched then the bullet will fire. If the barrel shrinks greater advantageous than the bullet, there's a great gamble the bullet would be caught in the barrel or the barrel will chop up upon firing.

Answer 6

the bullet would in theory travel at its initial velocity indefinitely until acted upon by another force i.e. gravitational fields or hitting something. the astronaut would travel backwards indefinitely as well as to conserve momentum at a velocity proportional to the astronaut and the bullets weight i.e. if he weighed 1000 times more he would travel 1000 times slower than the bullet in the opposite direction. if this is ever tested (or has been) it would be a good idea to tether the astronaut to something.

Answer 7

The gun wouldn't fire unless there was oxygen around it. You could place it in a oxygen rich bag and fire through the bag.

The bullet would fly at the max speed until it hit an object or entered a planets atmosphere where friction would slow it down.

It's basic Newtonian law that an object in motion will stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force. Theoretically, the bullet could travel at speed for eternity.

Answer 8

it will keep moving forward at the speed it was shot at until it hits something else(newton first law of motion, i think). the astronaut will move a tiny bit backwards to as the recoil from the gun will force him backwards. The momentum of the gun=momentum of the astronaut.

Answer 9

well first of all the bullet would not even be able to be shot, because there is no atmosphere and as a result no oxygen. if the bullet was somehow put in motion as explosively as when it is shot, it would go so much faster because it is in a vacuum and it would keep going until something else stops it.

Answer 10

Assuming its outside of the ship, and even without the oxygen the bullet fires, it will fly in a straight path untill it either hits something or gets pulled in by something's gravity.