There are a lot of intelligent people on this forum. So many have such diverse knowledge and varied education and experience. I figger this is a good place to ask a question that has been buggin' me for years.

Recently, Middle East security guards were shooting in the air at some guy's funeral.

Why don't the bullets kill people when the bullets come down? :confused:

mick

The way I understand it is that there is that probability, Mick, but the odds are very low of them actually hitting someone. I know that there were a few people killed during WW2 by spent anti-aircraft shells falling back to earth, but it was an amazingly small percentage compared to the size and amount of the ordnance expended.

I remember reading a story years ago about the safety door on an airliner's toilet giving way in mid-air, and the frozen contents then falling to the ground and just barely missing someone. That would sure have been a helluva way to go.

Bullets fired into the air have been known to come down and kill people. It's a rare event but it does happen. The odds of even one bullet out of 10,000 fired into the air striking someone in the head are very small.

A bullet exits the barrel of a rifle at anywhere from 1500 to 3500 hundred feet per second. If it's fired in the air it travels a few miles in altitude but air resistance slows its descent. Thus the maximum velocity when it hits the ground is about 300 feet per second. This speed is enough to kill a human if struck in the head but it's not so fast as to penetrate the body deep enough to destroy vital organs. It will punch holes in tin roofs which are common in the Middle East so I would guess that the homeowner would not be too happy.

Military funerals in this country use blanks to prevent this problem. The bullet is replaced with a wad of wax which falls harmlessly to the ground.

A couple a years ago I saw on TV a program in which strange killings were solved bij PD's and fed's in the USA. A man in a boat was fired his gun on a lake. Bullet bounced over the water-surface straight to a highway and killed a woman in a car... Normally this man couldn't shoot at this car, but the bouncing made it possible.

I think Steve Martin said it best...

Much like farts, bullets travel heavenward and then return to earth, BUT NOT TO THEIR ORIGINAL OWNERS.

That is why we must protect the ozone layer!

That said, I am not opposed to them spraying the heavens with automatic gunfire. We just need to teach them to shoot straight upward and stand still.

seems that there is a story about this right here in the Good Ole USA, where some cowbly shoots his gun in the air to celebrate on New Years Eve. Even if it doesn't kill you, ouch!

From the fingertips of Bob Lyle -

"Bullets fired into the air have been known to come down and kill people. It's a rare event but it does happen. The odds of even one bullet out of 10,000 fired into the air striking someone in the head are very small."



I guess that depends on where you are standing and how many people are around you when the gun is fired.

Could you stand over there, please?

I was watching the Mexican Saturday night where a guy did get killed from a bullet fired upward.

Also in Malcom in the Middle, some guns were fired upwards and the bullets eventually came back down almost killing the shooters.

I think this tells everyone I watch way to much television.

Somehow I remember hearing that during the Gulf war in '91 most of the civilian damage in Baghdad was due to anti-aircraft fire shot by Iraqis. At least that's what the excuse was.

And I believe being hit by a bullet that's coming back down will kill you simply because it's a low velocity tumbling round which tends to bounce off bone once it's in you, causing more damage than if it went right through you. A lot of damage was done during the civil war for this reason.

Yeah, I find Malcolm in the Middle a more credible source of news & fact than say CBS or the NY Tmes.

But not as much as Bill Maher. Funnier than Maher, but not as credible.

:)

of course everyone knows that hollywood is accurate...:D

falling bullets
 

When we captured Saddam, we had numerous reports of people being taken to the hospital after being hit by falling rounds. I think the number in Baghdad was something like 200 - 300. Tikrit had about 10.

Re: falling bullets - oh my!
 

<font size = 6 color = red>WOW!!!</font>

That sounds like a good start.

What goes up, must come down. Ever watch 6 Days, 7 Nights with Harrison Ford and and Anne Heche?

Actually, I have heard of injuries from falling lead but you would have to be extremely unlucky for it to kill you. The terminal velocity of a bullet falling earthward is nothing like the velocity of it out of the muzzle of a gun.