Posted on 02/25/2012 3:43:56 PM PST by U-238
Fires can't burn in the oxygen-free vacuum of space, but guns can shoot. Modern ammunition contains its own oxidizer, a chemical that will trigger the explosion of gunpowder, and thus the firing of a bullet, wherever you are in the universe. No atmospheric oxygen required.
The only difference between pulling the trigger on Earth and in space is the shape of the resulting smoke trail. In space, "it would be an expanding sphere of smoke from the tip of the barrel," said Peter Schultz an astronomer at Brown University who researches impact craters.
The possibility of gunfire in space allows for all kinds of absurd scenarios.
Imagine you're floating freely in the vacuum between galaxies — just you, your gun and a single bullet. You have two options. You either can spend all of eternity trying to figure out how you got there, or you can shoot the damn cosmos.
If you do the latter, Newton's third law dictates that the force exerted on the bullet will impart an equal and opposite force on the gun, and, because you're holding the gun, you. With very few intergalactic atoms against which to brace yourself, you'll start moving backward (not that you’d have any way of knowing). If the bullet leaves the gun barrel at 1,000 meters per second, you — because you're much more massive than it is — will head the other way at only a few centimeters per second.
Once shot, the bullet will keep going, quite literally, forever. "The bullet will never stop, because the universe is expanding faster than the bullet can catch up with any serious amount of mass" to slow it down, said Matija Cuk, an astronomer with joint appointments at Harvard University and the SETI Institute.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifeslittlemysteries.com ...
You also have to take into account the gases (and particles) ejected from the muzzle.
Vacuum doesn't have a temperature. If you're in the shade, heat radiates away until the object is fairly cold. A cartridge sitting in the sun might get hot enough to go off.
Alan Shepard brought three golf balls.The golf ball Alan Shepard hit went 2400 feet, nearly one-half a mile. Edgar Mitchell threw a javelin
The Javelin that Edgar Mitchell threw was a handle of a lunar scoop.
[If a man shoots a gun in space and no woman hears it, will he still be wrong?]
No, but he will still have to go to bed on an empty stomach.
So according to this new development, what ramifications would this have, if an Astronaut were to fart in his space suit?
It was a cannon round, fired remotely by the departed crew of an orbital spy station, and it did start having mechanical problems with the next crewing, and was subsequently abandoned.
I'm guessing that the Soviets obtained the advance satellite technology to render a manned spy station an obsolete and unnecessary expense.
The USAF had terminated its own spy station program much earlier with the advent of its next gen satellites.
What Would Happen If You Shot a Gun In Space?
I’d hit a wookie.
Not only would you move back at a low speed, you would spin unless you fired the gun from your center of mass.
Me too. I knew there'd be a Firefly reference on this thread. One of the (many) things I liked about Firefly was that the space shots were silent.
"It can save your life, this cigarette"
That story was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. That story must be at least 50 years old!
You’re right!
Assuming that all of the powder reacts and is ejected from the muzzle, I suppose that the ratio should be relative to the inertial mass of the cartridge minus the inertial mass of the casing.
I suppose that, since the question posed was for a 45, one also has to take into account the ejection of the cartridge as well.
You’re right!
Assuming that all of the powder reacts and is ejected from the muzzle, I suppose that the ratio should be relative to the inertial mass of the cartridge minus the inertial mass of the casing.
I suppose that, since the question posed was for a 45, one also has to take into account the ejection of the casing as well.
Well, DUH! What does the technical genius, "Natalie Wolchover", think the saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate) in millenia-old black powder is?
And the GAU-8 produces a noticeable reduction in the forward velocity of the A-10 when it is fired. (Watch the head of the pilot...)
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