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Geek Culture / Here's how to get your bullet physics sorted out....

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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 11th Oct 2009 04:05
Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 11th Oct 2009 09:43
I wanna see that in real time!
BMacZero
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Posted: 11th Oct 2009 21:52
I watched the WHOLE THING...

Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 00:36
That simply left me speechless. It's one of those things that I could just sit and watch over and over again. It's awesome how much beauty can come from a bullet despite the fact it's a terrible killing machine. And that's the serious awesome not the "Aww totally dude" awesome.

Van B
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 13:34
The worrying bullets seem to be those long ones with the strips around them - when they hit these razor sharp slithers spread out, probably inside your body, cutting it up a treat.

Great video though, I sat and watched the whole thing as well, every single bullet was fascinating.

Anyone know what those balls were though? - at one point they had bullets flying and little white balls would collide with them. So I'm puzzled, how in the hell could they do that, like fire 2 projectiles and have them hit each other reliably - both of them tiny. I was thinking that it could be shot from a shotgun cartridge, but I only noticed 1 ball at a time.

Thanks for directing us towards it.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 13:36
If you want two things to hit one another reliably, I guess you'd find something that fits both the gun and the launcher nicely like a bit of pipe and use it to line them up.

BMacZero
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 17:11
But the projectiles were moving perpendicularly to each other.

NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 17:18
Uh... eh... uhm... careful aim?

BMacZero
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 17:21
Probably...over and and over again .

Van B
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 17:29
Mythbusters did a test once, seeing if it's possible to catch a bullet in your teeth. So a moving object at god only knows what rate, being stopped by a static, metal maw. They failed, managed to ruin the bullet a few times but never catch it exactly.

What were seeing there is basically 2 bullets colliding in mid air - it would take a while to calculate the exact time to fire both shots, which would rely on the sort of exacting measures that you just can't get, delays that can't be measured or predicted. I mean it would be difficult to get 2 bullets the same size and shape to hit each other, never mind 2 completely different parameters and shapes.

So I just don't see how it's possible - unless it's a shotgun being fired with it, and just luck that some of the shot makes it to the bullets exact position - well I'm stumped!. The only other thing I can think off is that these are ball bearings being dropped constantly, and again luck is what we are seeing. You'd think that the pellet would need a lot of force though, otherwise the bullet would just knock it away.

And impressed, looks so cool when the little pellet takes a dent out of the lead.


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RUCCUS
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 17:56
Im pretty sure its just intense physics calculations beforehand on when to fire the bearing and at what angle. Back when I was taking physics we had set up two catapults perpendicular to each other and based on our calculations had to get the two balls in the catapults (small rubber bouncy balls) to collide mid-air. We managed to do it just through the math. I think if a grade 12 physics class can do that, then this guy with probably a lot of money and a good brain on his shoulders could manage to work out the calculations for the bullets.
Diggsey
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 19:40
They do have a one million FPS cam attached

All they would have to do is set two guns up in a single plane, both connected to a computer. Then watch the replays and adjust the time difference based on the replay.

Van B
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 19:57
Yeah, but the bullets collide, at different trajectories and the pellet puts a dent in the lead bullet, no way they could fake that!


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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 19:58 Edited at: 12th Oct 2009 20:01
I think I have watched every Mythbusters there is. They do a few with bullet collisions.

Two bullets colliding perpendicular would be sort of how they did..

"Does a bullet falling hit the ground at the same time as a bullet fired?"

Where they timed a gunshot, to a mechanical arm that dropped a bullet. In this case they would have to time two guns with a delay for the vertical bullet. It is the first bullet passing a motion sensor that starts the timing. However the trigger puller can also start the timing. They tried both.

Diggsey
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Posted: 12th Oct 2009 20:01
Quote: "Yeah, but the bullets collide, at different trajectories and the pellet puts a dent in the lead bullet, no way they could fake that!"


I didn't say they faked it, I said they watched the replays and made minute adjustments to the time between when the bullets were fired. (It is perfectly possible to use a computer to fire bullets)

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