• @[email protected]
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      92 years ago

      Nah, bullets don’t go anywhere near escape velocity. Escape velocity is ~11.2km/s and the fastest bullets (FAR faster than most) only go ~4000f/s, which is barely over~1.2km/s.

      Any bullet that is shot up will come back down, and not terribly far away, either. Even the biggest artillery systems only have barely over 100km range.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        The moon isn’t at escape velocity either (source: It’s still there).

        Doesn’t really change the numbers probably, but you’d need a little less than 11.2 km/s to reach the moon.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          Wrong, that is not how orbital mechanics work. The moon IS below escape velocity, but it’s orthogonal to the force of gravity. It also has a 240000 mile head start on getting away, yet it’s STILL not escaping while traveling over 1km/s.

          Shooting a bullet straight up, you would have to shoot faster than escape velocity for it to even reach the moon when using simple ballistic calculations.

          There is A LOT of energy in those thousands upon thousands of miles.

      • KSP Atlas
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        22 years ago

        What if my gun is a multi kilometre long railgun?

        • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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          32 years ago

          The US government tried that a long while back… The company Spinlaunch is currently working on yeeting stuff into orbit with a centrifuge… So yes, some unusual methods can work.