[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 are two basic forces acting on an object – a rotational force and a linear one.
The rotational force can make the bullet spin or tumble, but it can’t make it ‘curve’ (by itself) because the bullet’s center of mass is within the bullet itself and the only curved path the bullet can take is around its center of mass.
The linear force can’t make it curve either since, rather obviously, it’s linear.
Now, you could potentially curve the bullet aerodynamically by creating a situation where the drag on one part of the bullet was greater than the drag on the other. That’s how you throw a curveball in baseball – the rotation of the ball creates dissimilar drag.
However, this doesn’t work with bullets for two reasons. First, the bullet is rotating the wrong way. It would need to be spinning around an axis perpendicular to the direct of travel, not parallel to it. Second, the bullet is moving far too fast and its drag is far too low. No matter how you spun your bullet, the curve effect would be barely noticeable. You’d need to make special low speed, high drag rounds which wouldn’t be much good at damaging their targets.
Even beyond this, the way they curve bullets in Wanted is completely ludicrous. If you rapidly move the barrel like they’re doing, all you’re doing is creating an additional linear force on the bullet. You’re not ‘curving’ it – at best you’re slightly altering the vector upon which it leaves the gun.
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