How can scientists determine the top speed of a bullet?

Answer 1

Howto determine the speed of a bulletA bullet cannot propel itself, so its highest speed is the socalled muzzle velocity (the speed it has at the end of the gun barrel)

There are several possibilities to determine this velocity:

1 Use a highspeed camera and analyse the footage,

know how many frames / second were shot, and measure the distance travelled between frames.

2 What goes up, must come down:

If the mass of the bullet is known, shoot into the sky,

wait for it to fall, and measure the time it takes for the bullet to drop to the ground again. With some mathmatics you can estimate the initial speed of the bullet. (however due to air resistance it isn't the most accurate method, and a dangerous one at that :) )

3 U could also shoot into a pendulum, and look at how high it swings.

If the mass of the pendulum and bullet are known, the height they reached together is a measure for the maximum potential energy they had at that point. All this energy came from the kinetic energy of the bullet. And, since the mass of the bullet is assumed to be known, from this energy it's initial speed can be calculated.

If you're creative enough I'm sure you could find some other ways. Be aware that i don't know how, for example, forensic detectives determine the speed. Or other professionals for that matter. But "scientist" could be anything really ..., so there.

Hope this answer helps

AnswerThey set up a certain distance between the exit of the barrel and the target which is going to stop the bullet (nothing too long because gravity and air would slow the bullet down). They use equipment that measures how much time it takes for the bullet to hit the target. Add in some basic math and you have the top speed of a bullet.

New comment

There is however, another way to determine the average speed of bullet. by simply firing the bullet at a target with te rifle perfectly horizontal, you can find out how far the bullet's height decreases. by finding this, one can determine how long it took for the bullet to traverse the distance between the rifle and the target. and with some clever maths (v^2=u^2+2as) one can determine the maxime velocity of the bullet.