Something I saw on cops. About guns.?

Question

If you shot a gun in the air , when the bullet comes down can it kill or injure someone? Or would the bullet slow down to where it would not be a danger anymore. My husband and I were talking about this and the fact that if you throw a penny off of the Empire State building it can kill someone or hurt them badly. Made us question about shooting in the air.

Answer 1

There are documented cases of people being killed by bullets that were fired into the air. So, yes it can happen.

Mythbusters did some experiments about it and found that when a bullet was fire absolutely straight up into the air, it did not come down with lethal force. However, most times weapons are NOT fired absolutely straight up and when the bullet does come down still has a lot of the initial energy and can be lethal.

Answer 2

people mentioned that mythbuster proved it wrong, but they didn't say the exact conditions. If the gun is fired at an angle, the  bullet doesn't come to a complete stop and still has spin on it. these bullets can be lethal.

As far as pennies of the empire state building

1. there's a level goes outward of the top level. That's why, if you ever go there, you have to take an elevator up most of the way, then walk down a hall and take another a few more stories.

2. terminal velocity, the fastest an object can possibly travel. Not enough to kill in the case of a penny, not enough mass.

3. wind. The updrafts of the wind hitting the building put a real damper on falling objects.

when i was there, I was throwing pennies for fun and they would float like you wouldn't believe.

Answer 3

Every year there are news stories about idiots who fire their guns into the air to "celebrate" New Years' Eve or something. The bullets come down, and often hit people. Just last year, a kid was killed by a bullet falling from the sky. He was standing in his yard watching the fireworks show.

I also read somewhere that in the middle east, where firing weapons into the air is a popular celebration, several people each year are killed.

The bullets don't come down as fast as they go up, because they lose some speed due to air resistance, but I wouldn't  want to try to catch them.

Answer 4

My husband's granmother lives on the bayou in LA and one Mardi Gras, they had a bullet come through their ceiling.  The only thing the police could figure was that someone shot into the air  and the bullet had accumulated enough force on it's way down that it could peirce the roof and floor-the land is flat and there are no tall buildings where they are, so it wasn't shot from above.(it sounds like a made up story, but they kept pictures and you can see the patch on the floor)

The bullet would speed up as it feel back toward the earth, not slow down.  While friction slows it, the focrce of gravity would speed it up again(all of this is assuming almost near vertical shots).  

The short answer would be yes, it can injure or hurt someone.

Answer 5

on mythbusters they said it is not possible to be killed by a falling bullet