Eli5 If you shoot a bullet into the air how does it gain enough velocity on the way down to kill someone?

Question

Eli5 If you shoot a bullet into the air how does it gain enough velocity on the way down to kill someone?

In: 5

Answer 1

If they are shot straight up, then they don’t. They can only fall back at terminal velocity, which isn’t fast enough to cause any major damage. This is because the bullet goes straight up until it loses momentum, stops momentarily before falling back to earth.

However, if they are shot at an angle, then they don’t lose enough of their forward momentum to fall back to earth safely, and can potentially injure or kill someone.