basically I’m curious if it’s theoretically possible to add little channels or grooves into a bullet for air to flow through that would generate any amount of lift which would allow that bullet to travel further?
Just want to quickly add in really enjoying all of these responses where you guys are coming up with little “hacks”. Very fun reading all of these replies!
In: Mathematics
I only have a college generals understanding of physics, so take this with a grain of salt. But I imagine this *might* be possible while maintaining decent stability.
One way to generate lift is actually to spin in the direction you’re going. This is called the Magnus effect. It’s how balls are able to change directions midair when given a strong spin. A topspin will cause an object at speed to generate upwards lift.
If you had a cylindrical bullet, a specialized cartridge to fire it sideways, and a specialized muzzle with ridges along the bottom instead of rifling, that might give you a bullet with lift.
Spinning in any direction inherently stabilizes any object in motion, though I believe spinning in a direction skew of the direction of travel is much more stable than spinning in the same plan as the direction of travel. Specialized ends could maybe help with horizontal stability.
Such a bullet would also be much slower and have much lower penetrative power, and the firearm and ammunition would be more complicated, so I doubt it would have any practical use.
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