Two bullets hitting each other at a straight angle?

[Guest noaxark]

I'm in no way a physicist (I'm not even sure I can spell it right), so I don't know if I'm posting this in the right forum, but here goes:

 

Say you had two identical pistols shooting one bullet each straight at each other, as such:

 

[GUN A]--------X--------[GUN B]

 

Assuming the bullets also would be identical, fired at exactly the same time and hit each other right at their tips, what would happen? Would they for example go to a complete halt at the point of impact, or ricochet off somewhere? Would they mold into a single piece of metal? What kind of sound would you hear? What do you think?

[bloodhound]

it depends on a constant . i cant remember whats it called. generally given a symbol e.

 

it ranges from 0 to 1. if the constant for the bullent is 0 they will stop dead. if its one then they will move in opposite directions at equal speed.

[MolecularMan14]

if the same velocity, then they will stop dead. Depending on the metal mixture and type of the bullet they may fragment and they may mold.

If they were exactly...exactly on perfect allignment, then they would not ricochet.

Not exactly sure about the sound. Other than the boom of the firing, you might hear some kinda loud clink! Im really not sure, never tried and never want to (without robots or something- dont wanna get shot)

[YT2095]

they would fragment very badly (more so than a single round hitting a solid) from there these frags would indeed follow the `X` patern you ilustrated.

 

considerable heat would be produced also. IF the bullets were unbreakable, they would both stop dead center and fall to the floor, rather hot!

depending on the distance they were allowed to travel after the shot, they would make a metalic *CRACK* sound.

[Skye]

They'd both keep moving, downwards

[swansont]

it depends on a constant . i cant remember whats it called. generally given a symbol e.

 

it ranges from 0 to 1. if the constant for the bullent is 0 they will stop dead. if its one then they will move in opposite directions at equal speed.

 

Coefficient of restitution.

 

The collision, however, is almost certainly not elastic.

 

Total momentum is zero, so whatever motion happens, it will be balanced. Any fragmentation will have equal (mass*velocity) in any given direction and its opposite.

[NavajoEverclear]

this is a cool idea. I want to do it i want to do it. be right back i'll tell you what happens.

[DerSpooky]

Another way to think about this is to consider conservation principles. As everyone has said, momentum is conserved, and in your case the constant of the total momentum is zero. This means that just as long as the two bullets have the same magnitude of speed in opposite directions, or none at all, we are happy and momentum is conserved. The second consideration is the conservation of mechanical energy, or simply kinetic and thermal energy. The energy of our two bullet system cannot simply disappear, and depending on thermometric properties and environmental conditions, you can speculate on the outcome of this event. I would expect a ricochet at lesser speeds than approaching, and considering the symmetry of the problem with identical bullets, they would bounce back in opposite directions and follow parabolic paths.

[pulkit]

You only conserve energy when e=1

If e is anything but 1, we do not conserve energy.

The equations you may want to use are conservation of momentum and the e eqution. You would need that to solve it. e is always empirically determined using experiment, and generally needed for collision problems in mechanics.

[Professio]

this is a cool idea. I want to do it i want to do it. be right back i'll tell you what happens.

 

He hasnt came back, I got the feeling that he shot himself and the person with the other pistol.

[RICHARDBATTY]

He hasnt came back, I got the feeling that he shot himself and the person with the other pistol.

Its not dawn yet give him chance.

[SCOOTER93]

He hasnt came back, I got the feeling that he shot himself and the person with the other pistol.

 

 

No, he would have shot his partner and his partner would have shot him. Darwin ussually works more slowly in cleaning up the gene pool, but occasionally....

[ydoaPs]

Its not dawn yet give him chance.

 

No, he would have shot his partner and his partner would have shot him. Darwin ussually works more slowly in cleaning up the gene pool, but occasionally....

 

 

RICHARDBATTY, it was just past 3:30pm here when you typed that. Maybe he doesn't live in the same place as you.

 

SCOOTER93, google Darwin Awards.

[DerSpooky]

You only conserve energy when e=1

If e is anything but 1' date=' we do not conserve energy.

The equations you may want to use are conservation of momentum and the e eqution. You would need that to solve it. e is always empirically determined using experiment, and generally needed for collision problems in mechanics.[/quote']

Energy is always conserved. If the coefficient of restitution is anything other than one then KE transfers into other forms of energy, like sound and heat, which is what the coefficient of restitution formula takes into account, approximately, based on the elascticity of the material. But energy is conserved.

[YT2095]

sound and heat would be the resultant in this instance where both projectiles are "indestructable".

[pulkit]

I am talking purely from the point of view of solving the problem.

Of course I know energy is always conserved. But, you only find that to be useful for elastic collisions. For inelastic ones, you only end up with an extra unknown ,i.e. , heat disipated. Even knowing thermodynamic properties of matter will not help, you MUST know coefficient of restitution to get vel of sep = e * vel of approach.