Question about a bullet

[abcdefg]

Okay some guy apparently died on new years eve when a bullet was fired into the air and came back down and hit him in the heart. The man who died was 79. My question is would the bullet come back down as fast as when it was shot up into the air? Wouldnt gravity discounting air resistance be the only force and its terminal velocity wouldnt be the same as when its shot up would it? Someone I know says because of kinetic and potential energy it would come down at the same speed. Just curious thanks .

[NoteMe]

If you lood away from air-resistance, it will come back at the EXACTLY same speed. But because of the air resistance it will go towards a "limit" when it comes to speed on it's way down. It is the same with people jumping in parachuts (SP?), they won't fall faster and faster for ever...even if the gravity accelerates the object all the time.

I am not sure about the speed we are talking about here, but it is still more then enough to kill a human beeing.


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[NotLKH]

For the gent to have been shot in the heart, unless he was lying on his back, face to the air, I can't fathom how this could have happened if the gun was shot straight up into the air.

So, if the gun was NOT shot straight up into the air, the bullet never came to a halt at the top of its trajectory. The Gun must have been fired "upward", over the heads of a crowd, a small elevation at best. Thus the bullet would have been traveling forward at deadly speeds its entire journey from the barrel to the aorta.

[wossname]

For the gent to have been shot in the heart, unless he was lying on his back, face to the air, I can't fathom how this could have happened if the gun was shot straight up into the air.

So, if the gun was NOT shot straight up into the air, the bullet never came to a halt at the top of its trajectory. The Gun must have been fired "upward", over the heads of a crowd, a small elevation at best. Thus the bullet would have been traveling forward at deadly speeds its entire journey from the barrel to the aorta.

Assuming the guy that died wasn't the guy that fired the shot, we can assume that this was one of those things that happens a lot in Iraq. Everyone and his dog shoots a gun in the air and the bullets usually land outside the town.

If the bullet went vertically upwards, it would go a long way up (several thousand feet) and then stop for an instant at the top of its travel. From then on it would be like simply dropping the bullet from that height and letting gravity propel it towards the ground. The terminal velocity for such an aerodynamic object (we can assume the bullet is still spinning but now pointing the "wrong way") would be quite high, probably 250MPH or more. If it was an AK47 bullet then you could expect the bullet to hit the top of your skull and probably end up stuck in your neck.

If the shot was fired at 45 degrees instead then the vertical velocity combined with what remains of the horizontal velocity (aerodynamic drag) would be more than enough to penetrate your sternum and blow your heart to bits.

The moral of the story is this: if a bullet is still in the air it will still kill you if you get in its way.

[abcdefg]

Okay So even if the bullet was shot directly up into the air and only gravity was pulling it down with air drag it still is plenty fast enough to kill someone. I wasnt sure cause its hard to tell what terminal velocity is for each object the physics is pretty complicated to figure out exactly.

[NotLKH]

Assuming the guy that died wasn't the guy that fired the shot, we can assume that this was one of those things that happens a lot in Iraq. Everyone and his dog shoots a gun in the air and the bullets usually land outside the town.

Could have been Iraq.
However, I heard about this or a similar event on Paul Harvey.
It Apparently Happened in Orlando:

from http://www.news4jax.com/news/4041097/detail.html

Orlando Man Killed By Stray Bullet During New Year's Celebration
Bullet From Sky Hit's Man's Heart

POSTED: 6:40 am EST January 3, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- An elderly man was killed when a bullet from a high-powered rifle fell from the night sky and hit him in the chest, the result of the New Year's Eve practice of firing guns into the air, officials said.

Henry McDaniel, 75, was walking in a neighborhood near Orlando on Friday just before midnight when he collapsed in the street, witnesses and sheriff's officials said. He had been at a party celebrating the New Year with friends and had decided to visit another house.

Before he collapsed, McDaniel told friends who were standing with him near the street: "Boys, something hit me. Something hit me."

Doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center later discovered the bullet, which struck his heart.

Officials blamed the death on a common but illegal practice by New Year's Eve revelers to shoot into the air, a tradition that is usually harmless, said Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman Crystal Candy.

"For some idiot to shoot a rifle into the air is crazy," said Dale Mayo, a friend of McDaniel who was at the party.

McDaniel, a Georgia native who moved to the Orlando area in 1951, was described by many neighbors as a father figure.

"You couldn't find a nicer guy," Mayo said. "He'd give you the shirt off his back."

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Mr.Error]

it happened in my country (somewhere in Africa) billions of times and many people killed...

[Dillinger4]

I guess it matters how high the bullet reached in elevation. If the decent was long enough in time then i guess the bullet could kill you. Anything droped from rest falls at a rate of 9.8m/s²