Science

So What Happens to All Those Bullets Fired in the Air? Can They Kill You?

I have to admit, while watching all the coverage of the Libyan chaos and the rebels firing their guns in celebration, there’s one question that kept creeping up in my mind: What happens to all those bullets? Could the trigger-happy rebels actually be hurting (or even killing) people by firing off their guns all willy-nilly? Luckily, Business Insider was wondering the same thing, and it has an answer. In short, yes.

First, an example of the chaos. Here’s a clip from CNN that we brought you yesterday, in which there is so much errant and “celebratory” gunfire that the reporter is actually hit with bullet casings:

Now, here’s how the popular Discovery Channel show Mythbusters explains the danger:

In the case of a bullet fired at a precisely vertical angle (something extremely difficult for a human being to duplicate), the bullet would tumble, lose its spin, and fall at a much slower speed due to terminal velocity and is therefore rendered less than lethal on impact. However, if a bullet is fired upward at a non-vertical angle (a far more probable possibility), it will maintain its spin and will reach a high enough speed to be lethal on impact. Because of this potentiality, firing a gun into the air is illegal in most states, and even in the states that it is legal, it is not recommended by the police. Also the MythBusters were able to identify two people who had been injured by falling bullets, one of them fatally injured. To date, this is the only myth to receive all three ratings at the same time.

Science blogger Eric Berger quotes Robert Matthew’s “excellent Q&A book on cosmic conundrums:”

A bullet from a Kalashnikov rifle weighs only about 5 g but leaves the rifle traveling at over 1,500 mph — twice the speed of sound. This gives the tiny bullet the same amount of energy as a brick dropped from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral, so no wonder bullets tend to kill people.

If there were no atmosphere a bullet fired up into the air would come back down with this same amount of energy, and patently lethal consequences. However, air resistance makes a big difference and cuts the final speed of the descending bullet to around ten percent of the muzzle velocity, or 150 mph, and its energy is the equivalent to a brick being dropped on your head from the height of four feet or so.

Experiments conducted with real falling bullets have confirmed that this is enough to cause significant injury and there is anecdotal evidence that they may be lethal. The victims are unlikely to be those doing the firing, however. Traveling thousands of feet in the air, the bullets are usually caught by the wind and land as much as a quarter of a mile away from the gun-toting loons who fire them.

Howstuffworks.com confirms that such bullets can be lethal, but states the obvious — the danger is increased in urban areas because of increased population density.

So how plausible is it that someone is actually killed by the practice in the United States? Consider that a 4-year-old Atlanta boy was apparently killed by a bullet fired into the air in January 2010.

Comments (149)

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  • Attention2Detail
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:12am

    While our government makes it more difficult for us to get ammo, they give it to these idiots to fire into the air. Gun control is not about guns, it’s about control. Back to the story, of course a chuch of metal falling from a great height can be lethal. It just depends on how it lands.

    Report Post » Attention2Detail  
    • HogansHero
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:37am

      As Clint Eastwood said in The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, “he who holds the guns makes the rules. You dig!” This is about control, nothing shy of it.

      Report Post » HogansHero  
    • casseopea42
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:53am

      mythbusters already went over this.

      Report Post »  
    • mficentral
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 12:39pm

      I look at all of our money going up into the air with no thought process. Do they not think? What about the kids standing around. What a bunch of idiots. They haven’t had a constructive or educated thought in their brainless heads since birth. They should be somewhere where they won’t hurt themselves or anyone else. I just can’t see these thugs winning any battle.

      Report Post »  
    • paperpushermj
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 1:49pm

      They don‘t care if you are hurt or killed by a bullet returning to earth because if you are IT’S BECAUSE gOD WILLS IT so their’s no thought processes linking themselves to any taking responsibility. If I discharge a firearm into the air and read in the paper that someone is harmed it feel responsible. Following that line of thought any act against others could be excused as being preordained by god. I kill you during a robbery, my action and your death are all laid out at our births……………………… I’M GUILTLESS .

      Report Post » paperpushermj  
    • agameofthrones
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 1:56pm

      So you are now witnesses the new leaders of Libya in action. Lord, help us. These people are about as bright as a hole in the ground.

      Report Post » agameofthrones  
    • KickinBack
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 1:59pm

      We have dumb drunks that shoot guns in the air. They have just…well they’re not drunk just dumb.

      Report Post » KickinBack  
    • Armed Patriot
      Posted on August 25, 2011 at 6:42am

      I once saw a guy, laying on the ground fighting for his life, paramedics working hard… he was hit by a bullet shot in the air on the 4th of July. They gotta come down some place.

      Report Post » Armed Patriot  
  • texascav
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:10am

    Ouch………. duck and cover Why is it that these people love to shoot bullets in the air all the time… STUPID and makes them look like idiots.

    Report Post » texascav  
    • mutslie
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:21am

      Seems to be in their culture’ I wrote about it on here yest, ‘a while ago in Afganistan celebratery fire at a wedding brought down a light plane, I’m an aussie & saw it on the news here the occupants of the plane survived.
      They are just 7th century knuckleheads’ to look at them just leaves me speechless………….
      I hope the ones’ in my country (Libyans)’ pizzoff back now & practice their islamic crap there we dont need it!

      Report Post »  
    • Dinkiecb
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:24am

      That’s because they ARE stupid and are idiots!

      Report Post »  
    • Gary Fishaholic
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:28am

      In the famous words of Forrest Gump ( Stupid is as stupid does)

      Report Post » Gary Fishaholic  
    • OniKaze
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 12:24pm

      Not only do they look stupid for shooting projectiles into the air… They are also quite foolish, because bullets are not free, and over there I’m sure you could burn through a whole months salary (probably about $5) in one fire fight… So not only is this dangerous, but it is fiscally stupid (considering how much people over there like to shoot at each other).

      Report Post » OniKaze  
    • buzdburd
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 3:07pm

      They HAVE to shoot bullets into the air! After all, they haven’t been issued bottle rockets!!

      Report Post » buzdburd  
  • Johann
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:08am

    It is interesting how gleeful the American media cover this debacle. They are treating these dim witted thugs as if they were the descendents of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. As the Libyan thugs spray the streets with bullets and fire into the air (there is no doubt these bullets are falling on people) our fearless well coifed and made up talking heads are in a celebratory mood. After all this is Obama’s war and consequently their war and they now get a chance to play the rah rah war mongers. There is no doubt Libya will fall into a cesspool of violence and civil war and that the Obama adminsitration will come up with billions of dollars from our bankrupt country to send to the aid of these Muslim radicals. Hilary Clinton and her Muslim sisterhood will be leading the money bearers to the Libyan capital.

    Report Post »  
    • psadie
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 5:57pm

      I love it when people say they should of chosen Hillary for the Presidential nominee!!! Why? Do you think she is any better than Obama? She is a student of the radical Saul Alinsky. Hillary is the one who told Obama to go into Libya and for what? I for one am tired of putting our warriors in harms way of these fools who don’t know their ass from their elbow. They all need to be gone in 2012. Good riddance forever.

      Report Post »  
    • NYHuguenot
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:13pm

      I heard that we have 30 billion of Ghadafi’s money on hold and Obama authorized disbursement of 1.5 billion to them. We gave them a couple of hundred million missles through NATO. I wonder if they give us a deal on oil for them……Nahhhhh!

      Report Post »  
  • JLGunner
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:58am

    This report is so rediculous. Clearly this woman is out of her element. She’s reporting on this as if she has stumbled upon some great moment in history. These savages will be part of the attacks on Israeli soon enough and she‘s lucky they’re not attacking her. What an idiot.

    Report Post » JLGunner  
  • tobywil2
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:58am

    All very true but there is an awful lot of air around a person. When I worked in rocket propulsion back in the 1960′s we had a saying: “never fire the rocket straight up because you would not know which way to run”. http://commonsense21c.com/

    Report Post » tobywil2  
  • Tyr
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:57am

    So What Happens to All Those Bullets Fired in the Air? Can They Kill You”

    WE CAN ONLY HOPE SO, WE CAN ONLY HOPE!

    Report Post » Tyr  
    • Bluebonnet
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 5:43pm

      Absolutely. WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN! They truly look like a bunch of idiots shooting in the air. Obviously, either we or another country pay for their bullets. We have to pay so much for bullets here, they’ve almost become gold. A very strange bunch of people over there. However, I do understand their happiness in thinking they’ve won the war. We’ll see what happens.

      Report Post »  
  • NWalters78
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:57am

    Bullets fired in air, in Muslimland, kills a bunch of terrorists, wannabe terrorists, and soon to be terrorists. I don’t see the prob, personally. It’s natural selection, as some here would say. Achmed the Dead Terrorist will be getting lots of company.

    Report Post » NWalters78  
  • skunk
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:55am

    Didnt the mythbusters cover this?

    Report Post »  
    • Secret Squirrel
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:58am

      .
      Yes. Mythbusters couldn’t get a falling bullet to do any damage.
      A bullet will only fall so fast, not the speed at which it goes up.
      Gravity, it’s the law.

      Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
    • BigJohnT
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 2:39pm

      Read the article before you post stupidly.

      Report Post » BigJohnT  
    • woodydad
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 5:55pm

      Regardless of what an article says, science trumps articles. Terminal velocity is about 120 miles per hour, give or take a few, not 1,500 feet per second as the article incorrectly states. At the top of it’s trajectory, a bullet fired up into the air comes to a complete stop, having expended all of it’s energy. Gradually, as it drops, it picks up new energy from the earths gravitational pull, topping out at around 120 mph. Scientifically, this is called “ow, that really smarts speed!” Good for headaches but not much else. Still it requires a certain amount of pure stupid to go around firing a weapon, willy-nilly in any direction. My main point being that muslims are pure stupid, something else I believe can be scientifically proven.

      Report Post » woodydad  
    • Secret Squirrel
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:50pm

      .
      Big John NT.
      I know Mythbusters conceded to the police.
      There was no testing at other angles.
      I guess you believe the laws of psychics can be suspended.
      I don’t.

      Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
  • modilly
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:53am

    Now that we have spent money that we don’t have on this illegal war, where’s the oil? Let’s get something out of it other than a new Caliphate.

    Report Post » modilly  
    • tinydd
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:09am

      Oh boy the left would love to see that. No, what happens is that you and I pay for these Middle East wars and Obama gets all the credit. Sometimes it really sucks to be an American, especially on April 15rh…

      Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 2:56pm

      To quote Aerosmith:
      Dream on!
      Dream on!
      Dream on!
      Dream on ’till your dream comes true!

      Report Post »  
  • OldVietVet
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:42am

    These guys must have an unlimited ammo supply–they simply “spray and pray”!

    Report Post » OldVietVet  
    • Hula Calhoun
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:53am

      You’d think they would save their ammo in case they actually need it.

      And a bullet fired into the air can definitely kill. One year at Mardis Gras in New Orleans, someone fired a gun into the air and the bullet came straight down on a woman’s head. It penetrated the skull and killed her instantly.

      Report Post » Hula Calhoun  
  • salvawhoray
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:37am

    Can a fallin’ bullet kill you??????????????

    Yes it can, it happen on New year eve here in New Orleans less then 10 years ago.

    Report Post » salvawhoray  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:56am

      A few years ago. A 13yr old girl was killed here (Tampa) by a falling 9mm. Found in her backyard by her Dad with a bullet hole on the top of her head. She died when she stepped outside to talk to her friend on her cell phone.

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • SlimnRanger
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:23am

      Of course a falling bullet can kill,3 years ago in Noble Oklahoma, a police officer shot his handgun at a snake high in a tree,the bullet missed the snake and tree arched and cam down striking a little boy in the head killing him,That was a very sad day the little boy was fishing with his Grandpa,the officer was terminated ,and charged with man slaughter,and he will have that to live with the rest of his life

      Report Post »  
  • South Philly Boy
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:31am

    That was tried on Mythbusters Episode 50.

    Report Post » South Philly Boy  
  • jrfox
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:24am

    There has been far too much in-breeding in that part of the world to really make any sense of why they waste bullets like that. It is comparable to using a telepromter.

    Report Post »  
    • DaneChile
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:08am

      It´s just the childish urge to make noise. Why use drums or fireworks if you have limitless supplies of bullets? They don´t pay for them. Life has zero value over there so who cares?

      Report Post »  
  • Ironmaan
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:24am

    I had a friend take one in the belly while playing tennis. The angle of entry was clearly downward so he wasn’t being shot at. Clearly you can be killed. He underwent surgery and recovered. http://guerillatics.com

    Report Post »  
  • Wilma
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:17am

    A friend almost lost his young daughter to a bullet shot in the air one New Year’s eve. The bullet pierced the hood of his car where minutes before his daughter was sitting.

    Report Post » Wilma  
  • brickhouse_22
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:09am

    The lefty’s should push for more gun control in those countries.

    Report Post » brickhouse_22  
    • rodamaa
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:14am

      They should delivered the proclamation themselves.

      Report Post »  
    • Lonescrapper
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:15am

      They have gun control and that is precisely why they had a ‘violent’ revolution and so many people died.

      Report Post » Lonescrapper  
  • Dismayed Veteran
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:08am

    In a companion article to this one, several respondents made light of the reporters fear of being hit by shell casings. When a soldier goes to war he/she is trained for combat. Even then, the first time you are targeted is not a good experience. I suspect the CNN reporter from the companion article did not have basic combat training. I thought she did pretty good.

    Concerning rounds fired in the air, rounds do come back down indiscriminately and can kill or wound. The fourth rule of safe weapon handling is to know what is beyond your target since rounds are designed to penetrate.

    Report Post » Dismayed Veteran  
  • sWampy
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:07am

    All depends on the angle you shoot it, if it maintains it‘s ballistic trajectory and keeps it’s spin they come down fairly quickly, if they stop spinning and free fall, they will give you a small bump and maybe break your skin.

    Report Post »  
  • Quencher
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:06am

    Most of the gun firing in the air that we see on TV is simply because of the TV cameras that are encouraging the idiots that do the firing.

    Report Post » Quencher  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:02am

    Uhhh… she’s being hit by ejected shell casings, not bullets coming back down.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
    • loriann12
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:16am

      Ejected casings are HOT. They could burn you so there is a reason to fear. In another article, they were making fun of the reporter wearing a combat helmet…..I would.

      Report Post »  
    • SLARTIBARTFAST
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:20am

      Have you ever had an ejected shell casing drop down the front of your shirt? It can leave a pretty nasty burn.

      Report Post » SLARTIBARTFAST  
    • Dismayed Veteran
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:00am

      I had shell casings from an M-60 go down the front of my shirt. The suckers really burn.

      Report Post » Dismayed Veteran  
    • JJStryder
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:17am

      So CNN keeps sending women into these Muslim hotspots. Do they need an on camera rape
      for ratings?

      Report Post » JJStryder  
    • AlansTigg
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:31am

      had a shell from my 45 some how drop behind my safety glasses….got a nasty burn just below my eye…and wow did it hurt

      Report Post » AlansTigg  
    • drattastic
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 11:20am

      @N37
      Exactly they are shell casings ,yes they can burn BUT the video has nothing to do with the headline. I did enjoy watching the “reporter” walk around like Quasimoto looking like a fool,completely out of her depth. I DIDN’T enjoy being subjected to a 60second ad. which I promptly muted and ignored.

      Report Post » drattastic  
    • Dismayed Veteran
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 12:36pm

      I thought she did okay of an untrained FNG. After all, if this is her first kinda “fire fight” she could have well thought the casings were dangerous. I know I am being kind to her but I really would not like to see another American killed even if they are employed by CNN.

      Report Post » Dismayed Veteran  
  • rumpleforeskin
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:01am

    We are probably paying for them to waste ammo. The large caliber anti air gun ammo is expensive to be firing shots into the air and far heavier than 5 grams. Then they will be asking NATO to provide them with more.

    Report Post » rumpleforeskin  
    • republapig
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 2:28pm

      And asking NATO for more means US will be paying for them.

      Report Post » republapig  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:00am

    Yes, bullets fired in the air can kill on coming back down, they have done so in the past; one outcome here in the states resulted in the passage of many laws banning the firing of weaponry into the air in celebration of events; they are called megans laws if I remember right after a young girl who died in this manner.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • tifosa
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:39am

      hhmm that happens when you press post with no words in it, yeehaw! Anywho, no, Megan’s law is entirely different.

      Report Post » tifosa  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:50am

      Your first post was the smartest you ever sounded.

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:03am

      agree 13TH IMAM …… but than the little fairy rebooted

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
  • Bluefish49
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 8:58am

    I was thinking the exact same thing…what kind of idiot points an AK straight up into the air and empties the clip? The mideast in need of some serious fire arms training…on the other hand if the bullets by chance comes down and kills the idiot firing the AK no harm no foul.

    Report Post »  
    • biohazard23
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:04am

      Why give them training? This is potentially Darwin in action. Cull the flock, I say. :)

      Report Post » biohazard23  
    • BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:15am

      Middle East Bedouins, that’s who.

      This is precisely the reason we left Kuwait. We had been there for two years (my husband’s job, not military) when October 08′ there was a succession of bangs. It sounded like a high-pressured water hose spraying onto metal. Both my husband and son were out on the driveway when it happened. My son came in the house screaming. It was 3-4 Bedouins shooting AK47′s at houses and into the air. I couldn’t live there after that. The police wouldn‘t come out and my husband’s employer mostly just made fun of me for being terrified. We had to commit financial suicide for the whole family to repatriate back to the states (husband had to resign). They are a bunch of neanderthals over there.

      Report Post » BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?  
    • UlyssesP
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 12:55pm

      Jamaican thug gangsters in Miami on New Years Eve.

      Report Post » UlyssesP  
    • BigJohnT
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 2:46pm

      AK’s do not have clips. The AK uses a magazine.

      Report Post » BigJohnT  
  • BlackCrow
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 8:57am

    Must be nice to have enough ammo to WASTE like that!

    Report Post » BlackCrow  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 8:54am

    I have yet to see a “noble” Libyan rebel aim and fire at a target. I think alll they‘ve done is run in after NATO has obliterated it’s target and fire randomly in the direction of the smoking hole. I think these neophytes are getting way too much credit.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • T-2
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:07am

      good observation. wasn’t just last week that they say the rebels are loosing? I‘ll miss Qaddafi’s body guards.

      Report Post »  
    • Bluefish49
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:10am

      Exctly…there was a clip of a guy in the back of a pick-up with a 50 Cal that opened up in a crowd just because he thought he saw an insurgent or the clip of the guy down on his knee’s holding an AK straight up with his buddies “standing” around him when he decides to empty the clip…hilarious..

      Report Post »  
    • Bullcop34
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:33am

      Saw one clip of a group standing at the corner of a building and the guy BEHIND the crowd starts firing THROUGH the crowd down the street. All I could do was laugh.These freedom fighters couldn’t secure a cardboard box. Libya, I expect a check in the mail for all our soilders on the ground fighting for you but I won’t hold my breath. Those same freedom fighters will be denouncing the US as the great satan within in weeks if they actually do, er, uh, um, if we actually capture Tripoli for them.

      Report Post » Bullcop34  
    • JJStryder
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:26am

      Let them have their fun. They’ll be wearing serious faces and black turbans soon enough. That reporter, if allowed in in 2 years, will have to wear a burka when reporting. Don’t doubt me! This is the most liberty they will ever enjoy. It is Sharia after this. Their mullahs say they have no control, their Koran says they have no control, their god says they have no control. So they will give up their liberty because they will believe it themselves. Pitiful. The Caliphate is a fate accompli as far as I’m concerned. We had better save OUR ammo!

      Report Post » JJStryder  
    • Darla_K
      Posted on August 24, 2011 at 10:50am

      Who is paying for the guns and ammo?

      Report Post » Darla_K  
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