Welcome back! Today, let’s talk about external ballistics.
Bullet coming from S&W by Niels Noordhoek
Anything and everything on earth is affected by gravity. Objects fall towards the earth at a constant rate, known as the gravitational constant (9.8 m/s²) . I hear those sci-fi writers again. Yes, if we were on the moon, or Mars, or somewhere else, that constant would be different, and the ballistic flight will be different, but let’s get there in a bit shall we? Impatient Sci-Fi writers! As a quick reference, Moon Gravity is roughly 1/6th that of earth, and Mars is roughly 1/3. Newton tells us that an object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. So in a theoretical, gravity free environment, the projectile would just keep going straight, in the last direction it was propelled. Of course, Gravity isn’t the only thing that affects a projectile. The medium it flies in also plays a big part, by adding drag. The air itself slows the projectile down. In a vacuum there would be no aerodynamic drag, and the projectile would keep its velocity, until acted upon by something else.
That Newton guy is everywhere isn’t he?