06 Apr '05 14:31>1 edit
Who wants to stand in front of the fired bullet and watch it hit the ground? Please, don't everybody volunteer at once...
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Originally posted by AcolyteHow much air does he have left?
Here's another bullet-themed puzzle:
An astronaut stranded on a desolate, airless planet plans to kill himself with a gun (which we'll assume is one which works in space) but can't bear to point the gun at himself. Instead, he carefully takes aim and fires the gun directly forward. The bullet travels at x m/s, and y seconds later, the bullet hits him i ...[text shortened]... uming the planet is spherical and of uniform density, what are the planet's radius and density?
Originally posted by AcolyteVery interesting. I had to brush up on some old physics to try answering it, which is always a good thing!
Here's another bullet-themed puzzle:
An astronaut stranded on a desolate, airless planet plans to kill himself with a gun (which we'll assume is one which works in space) but can't bear to point the gun at himself. Instead, he carefully takes aim and fires the gun directly forward. The bullet travels at x m/s, and y seconds later, the bullet hits him ...[text shortened]... uming the planet is spherical and of uniform density, what are the planet's radius and density?
Originally posted by The PlumberNP, plumber. I often feel that I may understand, but don't fully comprehend solutions to physical problems unless I compare the numbers to something I know. I had an engineering professor who was an expert at explaining answers in terms of everyday objects (that's about as big as a swimming pool, as fast as a car travelling on the highway, as hot as a barbeque on HIGH, etc...). It really helped me develop physical intuition with complex systems.
Actually, yes - thanks for doing the research and calculation on that one.
Originally posted by PBE6I know what you mean. That explains why I was good at math right up until I started into partial differential equations - I just had a hard time relating those to the real world....
NP, plumber. I often feel that I may understand, but don't fully comprehend solutions to physical problems unless I compare the numbers to something I know. I had an engineering professor who was an expert at explaining answers in terms of everyday objects (that's about as big as a swimming pool, as fast as a car travelling on the highway, as hot as a barbeque on HIGH, etc...). It really helped me develop physical intuition with complex systems.
Originally posted by Palynkahi...you are quite corect. it depends on the velocity of the bullet completely(!). depending on it's velocity it may never fall in the earth to, it may orbit the earth(ignoring the air), or go out of earth. So the question is only defined, when we are ignoring the presence of the earth, but considering two planes: one plane and one curved- with the some mass...
Despite having no physics background(I'm a lowly economist):
Isn't it impossible to fire a projectile exactly parallel to the surface of the earth?
Then, the bullet would always be slightly rising (if assumed that he shot perpendicularly to current vertical position) as long as the horizontal velocity is higher than the vertical one.
I would expect the fired bullet to fall slightly later if this is true.