How fast does bullet travel when you fire it?

How fast does a bullet travel when you shoot and how will it act when shot while the shooter is traveling at the same speed?

Introduction:

Ever imagined, if Superman had a gun and if he fired it while flying, what would happen? As per the known information, Superman travels faster than a bullet, but exactly, what is the speed of a bullet? How fast does a bullet travel when you shoot and how will it act when shot while the shooter is traveling at the same speed? These are a few questions that surround our minds. However, don’t get too confused, we will discuss all, but before that let’s know what is the speed of a bullet and how fast it can travel, later we will ponder upon what will happen if you shoot a bullet while traveling at the same speed. 

How fast does a bullet travel?

A bullet’s speed is determined by the materials it is made from. Therefore, before we get on to the numbers of at what speed does bullet travel, let’s take a look at what are the materials used in an average bullet. 

A bullet is divided into three parts, the primer; also known as percussion cap, a propellant, which is about two-thirds of a bullet’s volume, and a bullet metal itself that hits the target. 

When the shooter shoots the gun, the spring mechanism in the gun pushes the primer; which explodes and further helps the propellant to ignite and create pressure. Once the propellant ignites, it burns the chemicals inside it at a slow pace, which releases gas pressure in response and shoots the bullet metal down the gun barrel and then directly at the target. 

When this happens and the shooter pulls the trigger, all of this happens in just a few seconds and the bullet is shot at the speed of over 2600 feet per second or 1800 miles per hour. If this is difficult to imagine, then just know that the speed of the bullet is twice the speed of the sound. 

This brings us to our next question; which is what will happen when you shoot a bullet at the same speed as the bullet. 

What happens when you fire a gun while traveling at the same speed as a bullet?

Before we elaborate on the answer for you, let’s look at the famous Newton’s law of motion. After all, this is all physics. 

Newton’s law of motion states, “Every body persists in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.” If you are not a science geek and did not understand this, let us put this into simple words for you. This law of motion states, that if you are in motion and any external force stops you; you would only be stopped then, otherwise, you will remain in motion.

Similarly, if you are at rest, then only an external force can bring you in motion. For example, when you throw a ball up in the air; it will come back because of gravity, as gravity will pull it down. However, unless you throw the ball up, it will not go up automatically. Throwing the ball is an external force, which put the ball into motion, and then gravity was another external force that brought it back to the ground. 

Application:

Now applying the same phenomenon, we will understand what will happen if the shooter shoots a gun while traveling at the same speed. 

Imagine, you are on a train that is going at the speed of 1000mph; when you will shoot the gun while being in the train; the gun will fire the bullet by adding the speed of the train. Perse, if the speed of the bullet is 1000mph, and the same is the speed of the train when the bullet will hit the target, it will hit at 2000mph. However, if you are shooting at the train traveling at the speed of 1000mph; while you are on the ground standing static, the bullet will not hit the target with the same speed; because you have subtracted the external force of the train. Therefore, the speed of the bullet will also be subtracted, from 2000mph to 1000mph. 

Conclusion:

Well, where it is true for bullets to add the speed of the train; it is not true in some cases. Take the example of sound waves, if you play music on the speaker while you are at home; the speed of the sound will remain the same as when you play it on the train. The speed of sound waves will have no effect whatsoever on the speed of the train, like bullets. 

We hope that this has given you a clear perspective on how fast bullets travel; and what will happen if the shooter shoots the bullet while traveling at the same speed.