Your on a train travelling @ 100mph & shoot a bullet out the window in the opposite direction would it stop?

Question

This is a drunken pub arguement which has been on going for months. The train is moving forward at 100mph and the bullet is fired in the oppositre direction to which the train is travelling, and for arguments sake the bullet is fired from the gun at 100mph. Would the bullet stop or fall to the ground?

Answer 1

The bullet would leave the gun at 100 miles per hour.  However since you are moving at 100 miles per hour the bullet would land where you were when you fired it.  It would appear to you that the bullet was traveling away from you at 100 mph while following it's normal arc.  In truth it was just falling to the ground.

Answer 2

no  the bullet like yourself will already be travelling at 100 mph so the acceleration provided to the bullet from the blast will add onto that 100 mph figure...sucks to be anyone standing in front of the train

Answer 3

It depends on who you ask.

To an outside observer standing alongside the track, the bullet will appear stationary and will simply fall to the ground, because the forward velocity of the train cancels out the rearward velocity of the bullet.

To the person firing the round, the bullet will appear to zip away at 100 mph as normal, because they are actually moving away from the projectile (due to the velocity of the train).

This concept is known as 'frame of reference' and applies to all moving bodies and all observers, except in cases where velocities start approaching the speed of light.

Answer 4

No, the bullets speed (velocity) is 100mph,

it will travel at 100mph from the barrel of the gun and continue to travel at 100mph.

When the bullet leaves the gun, it is no longer part of the train, it is detached and has its own momentum.

Answer 5

The speed of a bullet is measure by muzzle velocity.  To answer your question very quickly a jet fighter flying at 1500 mph can still fire it's cannons without the bullets stopping as soon as they leave the barrel.  No, the bullet would not stop and fall to the ground.

Answer 6

the bullet would be fired out of the gun, but then roll out oif the barrel and fall, although 100 mph is very slow for a bullet

Answer 7

actually, it would catch the tail wind and increase it's speed.

Answer 8

Absolutely not!

If you shot it in the opposite direction of the train, of course it will travel.

Answer 9

Since there are pitchers that can throw a ball 100 mph, it's safe to say a bullet comes out of a gun at a much higher speed than that, and will vary depending on the caliber of the gun and the bullets themselves.

That said - whatever speed the bullet is traveling out of the gun, it's ground speed will be 100 mph less than that since the gun itself is traveling 100 mph in the opposite direction. So it won't stop of fall to the ground right away, but it surely will sooner than it would have if you weren't moving when you shot it.

Answer 10

no the bullet would not stop cause of speed verse velocity.