Bullets coming through the roof.

[giddyup]

I have noticed on the Thai morning news a spate of incidents where a bullet has pierced the roof, sometimes narrowly missing the occupants. What's amazing is that sometimes the bullet seems almost intact, not damaged at all. What I don't understand, maths not being my strong point, is how a falling bullet (after being shot into the air) fall faster than the normal speed of gravity. I doubt a bullet dropped by hand from a height of say 1 kilometre would reach a velocity fast enough to allow it to penetrate an iron or fibro cement roof and still remain totally intact and undamaged.

Edited January 15, 2016 by giddyup

[NeverSure]

The bullet is probably describing an arc. It probably isn't falling but rather following its natural trajectory which would be down from the moment it left the barrel due to gravity.

If you sight a gun in to be "on target" at 100 yards/meters, you are actually sighting it so it is rising as it leaves the barrel. It will rise from kinetic energy but gravity will soon overcome that and begin to pull it downward. No bullet ever flies level.

Even a .22 long rifle bullet will travel a mile (about 1.6 kms) if fired upward at about a 30 degree angle. It will return to earth with some if not most of its energy left.

Perhaps someone is doing something stupid such as shooting at birds in a tree and when they miss the bullet goes on upward until it descends to a roof? I agree that a dropped bullet shouldn't penetrate a roof.

Cheers.

[giddyup]

The bullet is probably describing an arc. It probably isn't falling but rather following its natural trajectory which would be down from the moment it left the barrel due to gravity.

If you sight a gun in to be "on target" at 100 yards/meters, you are actually sighting it so it is rising as it leaves the barrel. It will rise from kinetic energy but gravity will soon overcome that and begin to pull it downward. No bullet ever flies level.

Even a .22 long rifle bullet will travel a mile (about 1.6 kms) if fired upward at about a 30 degree angle. It will return to earth with some if not most of its energy left.

Perhaps someone is doing something stupid such as shooting at birds in a tree and when they miss the bullet goes on upward until it descends to a roof? I agree that a dropped bullet shouldn't penetrate a roof.

Cheers.

I know where the bullets come from, it's from people who fire a rifle or pistol into the air just for fun. They aren't dropped from a passing zeppelin.

[CharlieH]

Falling-bullet injuries

Bullets fired into the air usually fall back with terminal velocities much lower than their muzzle velocity when they leave the barrel of a firearm. Nevertheless, people can be injured, sometimes fatally, when bullets discharged into the air fall back down to the ground. Bullets fired at angles less than vertical are more dangerous, as the bullet maintains its angular ballistic trajectory, is far less likely to engage in tumbling motion, and so travels at speeds much higher than a bullet in free fall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire

[Gonsalviz]

Ever see the movie The Mexican?