Simplicity........

[Bob Wright]

Nita was watering her flower beds today, and when she had finished I started to put up the garden hose pipe, but sprayed a few things in the yard first. As I sprayed out that stream of water, I was reminded of something my ROTC instructor told me long ago.

We had been studying the heavy machine gun, the M1917A1, and such terms as "grazing fire, plunging fire, and beaten zone." And all of this tied into ballistics. And the old sergeant told me, "You can learn a lot about ballistics by simply observing the stream from an ordinary hose pipe."

The truth of that sort of stuck with me ever since. And whenever I'm tempted to break out charts and my calculator, I think about the old garden hose.

Bob Wright

 

[Mtneer]

Funny! :lol: Many, years ago I was told by an Electrical Instructor at a Vo-Tech School that I could learn a lot about electricity by thinking about how water flows through a hose or pipe.

 

[Precision32]

Take a rifle and set the barrel perfectly level, put a bullet in the chamber and fire the round. At exactly the same instant, you drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle. Which bullet will hit the ground first?

 

[Mtneer]

Take a rifle and set the barrel perfectly level, put a bullet in the chamber and fire the round. At exactly the same instant, you drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle. Which bullet will hit the ground first?

Ooooh! I know! I know! Call me! Call me! :lol:

But you'd better have more than just a "bullet" in that chamber or it won't work. You need a whole cartridge. And the "bullet" has to leave the muzzle at the same instant as you "drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle."

 

[wizofwas]

Take a rifle and set the barrel perfectly level, put a bullet in the chamber and fire the round. At exactly the same instant, you drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle. Which bullet will hit the ground first?

In theory they will hit the ground at the same time. But if you take the curvature of the earth into consideration, then the dropped bullet will hit first. The mythbusters did the same experiment with a 45ACP and they did indeed hit the ground at the same time.

 

[powder smoke]

Simplicity is not always that simple. Funny ever have that conversation with someone
who does not know or understand it. It can last a while lol ps

 

[Bob Wright]

Let's see, water or anything else dropped from a height will immediately fall to the ground due to gravity, unless some other force is applied.

Under lateral pressure, the item falling will take longer to hit the ground, as the amount of lateral pressure increases.

That's about it, isn't it?

Not exactly. The trajectory is not a symetric arc, but rather more of a parabola. As the droplets of water slow down, due to air resistance, the "drop" is greater. The point is, that elevating the stream (of water or bullets) above horizontal, increases the range, or distance the stream will travel. But there is a point below 45 degrees, where further elevation will decrease the range.

Again, observing the effect of wind, demonstrates the effect of natural forces on the trajectory of a bullet, or stream of bullets.

The observation of a stream of water was not the ultimate course, but an example of what happens during flight.

Bob Wright

 

[Jeepnik]

Funny! :lol: Many, years ago I was told by an Electrical Instructor at a Vo-Tech School that I could learn a lot about electricity by thinking about how water flows through a hose or pipe.

Amps & volts / pressure & volume.

 

[Precision32]

Take a rifle and set the barrel perfectly level, put a bullet in the chamber and fire the round. At exactly the same instant, you drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle. Which bullet will hit the ground first?

Ooooh! I know! I know! Call me! Call me! :lol:

But you'd better have more than just a "bullet" in that chamber or it won't work. You need a whole cartridge. And the "bullet" has to leave the muzzle at the same instant as you "drop a bullet from the same elevation as the muzzle of the rifle."

Not if I shoot my BP rifle! :mrgreen: But you are correct, I should have used "cartridge." Picky, picky, picky.

 

[stevemb]

Old knowledge is still knowledge. Keep'em coming Bob. I want to learn.

 

[finesse_r]

I would have thought that the speed of the bullet that was shot would have provided some lift, and certainly enough lift (even without wings) that it would make a measurable difference. Shoot a rocket fast enough and it will overcome gravity even without wings. I guess I would have been wrong. LOL