Re: Velocity of a falling bullet

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ian Stirling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>In sci.physics [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ian Stirling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>>>In sci.electronics.design Jim Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 19:59:10 -0500, "Paul R. Mays" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>>
>>>>>"Don A. Gilmore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>>>>>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>>> Hi Doug:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In a vacuum, the bullet will strike your head at the muzzle velocity!
>>>>>This
>>>>>> is just as if you had put the gun to the top of your head.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Only if that Vacuum were far removed from any gravitational well
>>>>>in which case it would never stop and come back at cha...
>>>>>
>>>>>If fired UP it would at some point STOP and have 0 velocity
>>>>>at that point, even in a perfect Vacuum , it will reach its terminal
>>>>>velocity at the point it ...well .. terminates..  and that is when
>>>>>it strikes the ground.  which is calculatable and magnitudes less
>>>>>than Muzzle velocity....
>>>>>
>>>>>You need a few more days in Physics class and study
>>>>>old Newtonian Laws of Mass and inertia because if you
>>>>>were right dropping a hammer on the moon would be a deadly act.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> [snip]
>>>> 
>>>> Eh?  Who is it that needs to study Physics ?:-)
>>>> 
>>>> A bullet fired vertically in a vacuum has no "windage" and would
>>>> arrive back at ground level at the muzzle velocity.
>>>
>>>Plus or minus whatever Mr Coriolis has to say about it.
>>>
>> This won't change the value, only the direction (slightly).
>
>If it changes the direction slightly, it changes the velocity slightly.

Indeed.  However, from the context above, the discussion here is about 
the value of the velocity (aka speed) alone).  Only in this sense does 
the statement "arrive back at ground level at the muzzle velocity" 
make sense.

Mati Meron                      | "When you argue with a fool,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]         |  chances are he is doing just the same"