if a ball thrown in the air at 50 m/s comes down at 50 m/s...why is it that a shotgun blast simply"peppers"u?

Question

please explain?? i don't understand how a ball will come down the same, and shotgun pellets won't

Answer 1

I think you don't appreciate the difference in a ball moving vertically with a ball or set of projectiles moving horizontally (initially).

The ball in the situation you pose, must conserve its ttal mechanical energy hence the kinetic energy it has leaving the departure point has to be the same as when it returns - it doesn't gain or loose total energy anywhere in its round trip. Since kinetic energy is proportional to the speed of the object squared, the speed leaving the ground must be identical to the speed when the ball hits the ground.

Now take a projectile initially shot horizontally to the ground. Total energy is alos conserved but the projectile's kinetic energy is not totaly converted to potential energy like in the case of a ball being thrown vertically. In fact, the initial kinetic energy is less than the final kinetic energy assuming teh projectile leaves its launch point at some height above the ground (like a shot gun barrel held at shoulder height and held parallel to the ground). As the projectile move horizontally, it begins to fall due to gravity. Thus, the potential energy it started out with is converted into kinetic energy and the speed of the projectile increases. It hits the ground with greater speed than it started out with.

Now a shot gun shooting lots of pellets sees some "real world" effects not talked about above. Some of the shot leave the barrel slower than others - could be due to friction of rubbing against the barrel. Some of teh shot may deform more than others due to the stresses of the air pushing on them and slow down. Some mey get bounced off other shot or the side of teh barrel as they leave the gun. Some may get pushed by the expansion of teh gasses generated by the gunpowder as the gasses and shot leave the barrel. This latter mechanism is probably the dominant cause for teh shot spreading out.

Answer 2

A ball thrown in the air only returns with the same final velocity if you ignore air resistance. The terminal velocity of a shotgun pellet in air is much smaller, proportional to the initial velocity, than a ball. The air resistance is directly proportional to the velocity, therefore the resistance on a ball is less than the resistance on a shotgun pellet (since the pellet is travelling so much faster).

Answer 3

air resistance slows down the pellets

Answer 4

due to it's relative difference between the weight of the ball and the weight of the pellets, and the same applies to the rate of velocity..