• @jerome@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    228 months ago

    To the idiots that will try this, don’t. There is a small chance your bullet will kill someone. It has to end up somewhere. No, it can not make it passed the Stratosphere… I mean… bullet always come back down.

    • ivanafterall
      link
      fedilink
      448 months ago

      It’s a valid point. My only counter-point: come on, do it, pussy.

      • @MotoAsh@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        108 months ago

        Nah, bullets don’t go anywhere near escape velocity. Escape velocity is ~11.2km/s and the fastest bullets (FAR faster than most) only go ~4000f/s, which is barely over~1.2km/s.

        Any bullet that is shot up will come back down, and not terribly far away, either. Even the biggest artillery systems only have barely over 100km range.

        • KSP Atlas
          link
          fedilink
          English
          28 months ago

          What if my gun is a multi kilometre long railgun?

          • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
            link
            English
            48 months ago

            The US government tried that a long while back… The company Spinlaunch is currently working on yeeting stuff into orbit with a centrifuge… So yes, some unusual methods can work.

        • @Hagdos@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          16 months ago

          The moon isn’t at escape velocity either (source: It’s still there).

          Doesn’t really change the numbers probably, but you’d need a little less than 11.2 km/s to reach the moon.

          • @MotoAsh@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            16 months ago

            Wrong, that is not how orbital mechanics work. The moon IS below escape velocity, but it’s orthogonal to the force of gravity. It also has a 240000 mile head start on getting away, yet it’s STILL not escaping while traveling over 1km/s.

            Shooting a bullet straight up, you would have to shoot faster than escape velocity for it to even reach the moon when using simple ballistic calculations.

            There is A LOT of energy in those thousands upon thousands of miles.