Tag Archives: External ballistics

Part 3 of A Ballistics Guide for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Stability and Recoil

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Welcome back all!  In last week’s episode we talked about external ballistics, and the forces that affect a projectile in flight.  We also talked about those same projectiles flying around on Mars, in outer space, and on planets made of bubblegum.  This week we’ll discuss stability of a projectile, and the things we can do to limit the effect those forces have on the projectile’s flight.

So what can we do to help them out? obviously we want to hit our target and Mother Nature (or other resident natural deity on whatever sci-fi world you’re writing) is doing her damnedest to make sure we miss.  We have to find some way stabilizing our projectile, to make it less susceptible to outside forces.  Here’s what would happen if we fired a projectile with no means of improving stability, as it flies, minute disturbances and inequalities in forces applied cause it to tumble.  This video comes from YouTube user vidaday, and is awesome.

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An Introduction to Ballistics for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Part 2 of Many

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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?

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An Introduction to Ballistics for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Part 1 of Many

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To the point

Photo by BWJones (Bryan Jones) on flickr

So what is ballistics, and why should I care, right? What could this possibly have to do with me, you ask?  It is an interesting science, and one that I have devoted many hours to studying. My goal in writing this down is simple: To keep learning as I write, and to share what I’ve learned with you all. I’m not trying to turn you all into ballisticians or long-range shooters, merely to give you nuggets of knowledge to tuck away in the back of your brain. I’m also not claiming to be the be all and end all expert on all matters related to physics, guns and ballistics.  I’m merely your guide on this journey, through a topic I happen to study passionately.  I’ve spent years studying and working in this field, and have learned a lot, with decades of learning still ahead of me.  As a teacher of mine once said after a long, hard course, “Congratulations, you now know enough to be dangerous.”

Plus, you never know when in your next story/book/audio drama one character might pick up a gun, and one of these little nuggets of knowledge will shove their way to the front of your brain and help complete a scene in a believable way. Or at the very least, maybe your next game of trivial pursuit will ask you some physics question and you win! Let’s dive into it then, and see where we end up.

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