Why are bombs, the ones dropped from airplanes, shaped like an oval with fins on one end? Why aren’t they spheres so they just fall down onto the target?
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The Magnus effect causes a spinning object not to fall in a straight line. You can check it out on many youtube videos. This makes accurate targeting inefficient.
Fins and a torpedo shape are aerodynamic and fall fairly straight. Plus with guided munitions, these are used to more precisely guide missiles to their targets.
Modern bombs are also designed with specific purposes which are not “orientation free”. A bunker buster, for example, is designed to be effective only in specific orientation. Shaped charges, for example, must face the surface they are trying to penetrate (facing upwards will make them quite useless)
The Magnus effect causes a spinning object not to fall in a straight line. You can check it out on many youtube videos. This makes accurate targeting inefficient.
Fins and a torpedo shape are aerodynamic and fall fairly straight. Plus with guided munitions, these are used to more precisely guide missiles to their targets.
Modern bombs are also designed with specific purposes which are not “orientation free”. A bunker buster, for example, is designed to be effective only in specific orientation. Shaped charges, for example, must face the surface they are trying to penetrate (facing upwards will make them quite useless)
The way a bomb works is that, by impacting the fuse, you trigger the mechanism. The detonator is triggered by an impact.
The issue a sphere has is drag. If you think of a perfectly round ball versus a golf ball, one has erratic movement because the curved surfaces basically deflect wind in the wildest ways. You want the bomb to fall down, on your target, and be triggered by the detonator.
They are shaped to reduce drag during flight. Spheres are not very aerodynamic.
Then bombs are standard, rarely you see different designs for exterior and interior carried bombs. Most cases they make an exterior carried bomb and then used it for interior carrying too.
Then when you drop them you want the bomb to spin to retain accuracy, so you need a fin with a twist. Again sphere with fin is not practical. The more elongated the bomb is the less it aerodynamically mask the fin. Too elongated it becomes unstable during the spinning. So you see that 2 to 10 ratio in length to width. The most elongated, the 10, are made with fast jets carrying them outside in mind.
The way a bomb works is that, by impacting the fuse, you trigger the mechanism. The detonator is triggered by an impact.
The issue a sphere has is drag. If you think of a perfectly round ball versus a golf ball, one has erratic movement because the curved surfaces basically deflect wind in the wildest ways. You want the bomb to fall down, on your target, and be triggered by the detonator.
The way a bomb works is that, by impacting the fuse, you trigger the mechanism. The detonator is triggered by an impact.
The issue a sphere has is drag. If you think of a perfectly round ball versus a golf ball, one has erratic movement because the curved surfaces basically deflect wind in the wildest ways. You want the bomb to fall down, on your target, and be triggered by the detonator.
They are shaped to reduce drag during flight. Spheres are not very aerodynamic.
Then bombs are standard, rarely you see different designs for exterior and interior carried bombs. Most cases they make an exterior carried bomb and then used it for interior carrying too.
Then when you drop them you want the bomb to spin to retain accuracy, so you need a fin with a twist. Again sphere with fin is not practical. The more elongated the bomb is the less it aerodynamically mask the fin. Too elongated it becomes unstable during the spinning. So you see that 2 to 10 ratio in length to width. The most elongated, the 10, are made with fast jets carrying them outside in mind.
They are shaped to reduce drag during flight. Spheres are not very aerodynamic.
Then bombs are standard, rarely you see different designs for exterior and interior carried bombs. Most cases they make an exterior carried bomb and then used it for interior carrying too.
Then when you drop them you want the bomb to spin to retain accuracy, so you need a fin with a twist. Again sphere with fin is not practical. The more elongated the bomb is the less it aerodynamically mask the fin. Too elongated it becomes unstable during the spinning. So you see that 2 to 10 ratio in length to width. The most elongated, the 10, are made with fast jets carrying them outside in mind.
They are shaped like spheres. Have you even played Mario?
They are shaped like spheres. Have you even played Mario?
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