* points to head and holds sign "Aim Rifles Here"

[Mr.Bob]

*dead bird falls to the ground*

[Ekspiulo]

*dead bird falls to the ground*

"Thanksgiving Turkey, friend of all the children, are you OK?"

*poke poke*

Oh God!

[Crazy Chris]

Who saw that coming?

[Tim]

Who saw that coming?

Obviously not the bird.

[Rkolter]

Okay, I'm putting an end to this.

*points rifle into air and fires*

Now we wait.

If you did that here, you might hit a military jet. They fly around my home sometimes. For... er... no reason at all.

I suspect if you hit one of them, you wouldn't have to worry about the airplane though; you'd be more concerned with what they might fire back.

Side note: most ballistics don't deal with the rotation of the earth - as mentioned earlier, the air the projectile is moving through, is moving as fast as the ground. Modern missiles have error correction software.

Where this comes more into effect is when you're launching into space - the closer to the equator, the easier it is to launch. This is why shuttles always launch along the same path - to take advantage of the earth's rotation and the bulge at the equator.

[Cope]

*fires his BB gun into the air*

*dead military jet falls to the ground*

[LAGtheNoggin]

Side note: most ballistics don't deal with the rotation of the earth - as mentioned earlier, the air the projectile is moving through, is moving as fast as the ground.

Modern long range sniper rifle computers actually take as much as possible into account (including rotation of the earth), a deviation of an inch is enough for a miss so everything's important. EVERYTHING! Even your zipper. Probably.

Oh, and on a side note of side notery thread continuance: How do ballistic computers work out multiple crosswinds? Is it radar technology doohickery? I never thought it was possible really...

[Czar]

I've heard some systems (primarily for mortars) enjoy the use of "smart" shells that correct their trajectory on their own (or at least find and destroy targets in a designated area on an individual basis). Don't ask me how 'cause I don't know and I think I'm not supposed to.

Other than that, most modern systems (again, mortars) are so heavily computerized that hitting the target is no problem, the problem is instead how to improve the mechanism. I mean, if you can empty the magazines of a double barreled 120 mm mortar within one minute and have all sixteen shells impact on the designated target about ten klicks out near simultaneously, precision is not what you need to improve. MRSI. Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact. God, you just can't resist loving the artillery.

[Prettydragoon]

MRSI. Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact. God, you just can't resist loving the artillery.

Sure you can. Artillery is the Dark Side (tm) of the Defense Forces. Artillery is teh 3bil. Cavalry, now, cavalry stands for Mom, Dad, apple pie and the girl next door. For Truth, Justice and the... um... Keenspace Way.

[Czar]

Sure you can. Artillery is the Dark Side (tm) of the Defense Forces. Artillery is teh 3bil. Cavalry, now, cavalry stands for Mom, Dad, apple pie and the girl next door. For Truth, Justice and the... um... Keenspace Way.

If I recall correctly, American cavalry are wussies who spend all day in armored vehicles, also providing coordinates for the Artillery?

Now, Swedish cavalry is the shit. Rangers, Green Berets (Amphibious Rangers), Airborne Recon, Norrland Rangers and Military Police.

But still, nothing wrong with loving the ten mile snipers.
But I'll admit they're nothing without good cavalry to give them targets.

[YarpsDat]

... Oh god. Not bullet related questions again.

Fine. Here.

1) Fire a bullet straight up.

[...]

Assuming that there is absolutely no wind anywhere, that the air is perfectly homogenous, there aren't any birds, trees, etcetera to alter it's flight path, and you managed an absolutely, DEAD ON 90-degree angle?

The bullet will land theoretically where it was fired. If you held it directly above your head, you would probably be hit with it. Centerfugal forces are irrelevant in this question.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.

If you're not on the equator, the gravity will drag the bullet off its way.
See the first pic, you move along the red line/plane, bullet moves along the blue one. You fire the bullet and before it falls back down you travel a couple hundreds of meter to the east, meanwhile the bullet moves couple hundreds of meter to the east, and a couple of centimetes to the south.

Now, if you are on the equator, the red and blue planes will be the same, so consider another effect: when you fire the bullet upwards, it will move away from the rotation axis. Bullet's linear speed stays the same, but the angular speed decreases since the radius increases.
So while you travel some angle/distance to the east, the bullet will travel less.

BTW, these two effect are the cause (or maybe the result? It depends how you look at it.) of the centrifugal and Coriolis forces, I guess. And the centrifugal forces are not irrevelant here... (Unless you mean they are neglible compared to the wind and angle problems, because they are.)

Of course the amount of displacement will depend on bullets velocity, and whether it hits you will also depend on the size of your head and stuff, so you will perhaps kill yourself (especially if you use some slow bullets), but "theoreticaly" the bullet lands in some other place to where it was fired from.

[VileTerror]

I'm still waiting to see Kolter's reply to Yarps' diagrams.



<small> . . . that and I'm damned egotistical.</small>