This is what happens when you shoot a gun into the air.
When I watch the news I see people shooting into the air to celebrate holidays or a battle victory. Sometimes policemen use this tactic to disperse or reduce a revolt. I always wonder: what happens to those bullets?
Do they shoot into space?
Do they dissolve in the air?
I got a palta*!
If you shoot a rifle straight into the sky, the bullet will come out at about twice the speed of sound (approx. 2,570 km / h). If there are no winds affecting it, it could rise up to 3 km… and then would fall back to Earth.
Due to air resistance, the free-falling bullet will only reach 10% of the speed at which it exited the rifle.
So now the question would be, can a bullet at that speed cause damage?
After many pigs, human corpses and ballistic gel dolls riddled in the name of science, it has been determined that … we don´t know.
Some studies show that a bullet at 218 km/h is enough to penetrate the skin. While others mention cases where bullets speeding at 360 km/h bounce off it.
That difference depends on many factors:
- How thick is the skin.
- How elastic is it (old ones have poor elasticity, it breaks easily).
- Where exactly it falls.
- The tip of the bullet.
- Being born under a red sun.
- Having a mutant gene. (Ok, those two I just made up).
Anyway … even the location where the shot happens also matters. Air resistance decreases with height. A bullet falling from the sky of La Paz, Bolivia is more lethal than one falling from the sky of Paris, France.
No matter where you are, firing a gun in the air is a bad idea. Unfortunately, in my country, -Peru- is precisely that: just a bad idea. It is not a crime! In 50 states of the United States, in Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and other countries, it is an illegal act.
(*): Palta, avocado, aguacate. The most delicious fruit in nature. Also Peruvian slang for when you are ashamed or nervous about something.
Peter Palta worries. Worries a lot. He worries about the economy, unremarkable food, weird buildings, geopolitics, pop psychology, the end of the world, old childhood imaginary friends, always present imaginary deseases, and everything in between. While he isn’t having a panic attack he reads a lot.
