On Wikipedia they list bullet velocity and energy, some bullets have different sized bullets so have a list.
The measurement for energy is ft lbs. (Or at least I understand that one better.) And while I do understand a bullet can do a significant amount of damage to an object, I don’t understand what the ft lbs means. Case in point, for the 500 S&W magnum round they have 5 different bullets velocity and energy listed. The bullets listed have low 2000 ft lbs to almost 3000 ft lbs listed.
My understanding of “1 ft lbs” is the amount of energy a 1 pound weight hits the ground with. (In a vacuum) Or the amount of energy needed to raise 1 pound 1 foot in a vacuum.
So while the 500SW magnum is a very powerful round, I know it can’t move 2000-3000 pounds a foot. So I want to know what the ft lbs means in this case? Like if a person is shot they don’t really fly back. There is a video on YouTube where a guy shot a 5 gallon water jug. It caused the jug to split and water to fly everywhere, but it didn’t move.
Am I not understanding ft lbs to start with? Or what? How does a bullet have that much energy, but in reality can’t move an object even close to the size listed?
In: Physics
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