[I did see that this was answered a few years ago but the answer was a little too unscientific] I’m watching the movie and decided to Google it. All the answers are really physics heavy and I’m having trouble understanding. One answer even went on to speak about long distance military shooting, the rotation and curvature of the earth, and the fact that the bullet and earth themselves are both gyroscopes. The Magnus effect was mentioned as well. I still dont understand why it’s not possible.
In: Physics
There has to be some physics in the explanation but I will keep it simple.
To make anything move, you have to push it, or pull it. You have to put some force on it. That bullet is sitting still in the pistol and it will keep sitting there until a force makes it move. Luckily, there’s a bunch of gunpowder behind it to push it down the barrel. But once the bullet leaves the barrel, there is no more force pushing it forward. If you were out in deep space, the bullet would just keep going in a straight line.
Bu the bullet is here on Earth, so a couple of forces are acting on it. Gravity is pulling it down, so it will eventually hit the ground, and air resistance is slowing it down, so it will not be going quite as fast when it hits the ground as it was when it left the barrel.
So, you want the bullet to curve. Okay, fine, but to make it tun, you have to push it or pull it with some force. Otherwise it will keep going in the same direction. No force, no change of direction.
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