Eli5 If you shoot a bullet into the air how does it gain enough velocity on the way down to kill someone?
In: 5
Energy is conserved; i.e. it can change form but the total remains.
Ride a roller-coaster down and you gain speed as you lose height — you gain kinetic energy as you lose potential energy. And then you go up the next hill, and lose speed as you gain height.
Likewise for a bullet that you shoot up in the air — it loses speed as it rises, and then gets it back as it falls.
The situation is complicated by air resistance. As the bullet goes through the air some energy is lost, heating the air. Not much if the bullet is going point-first; more if it’s tumbling.
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