I think that the gun and alcohol myths on this show are handled very well. By that I mean they don't encourage us children (or idiots, or idiotic children)to use them

Well it seems that a little research would have helped before testing this myth. I live in phoenix and just a few years ago, a young lady was fatally wounded by a celebratory bullet fired within the area. She was struck on the top of the head and was pronounced dead upon arrival. Not only was this a major local news story, my buddy was on the engine crew that responded. Since then, the city of phoenix has passed a law in her name dramatically increasing the penalty for firing up in the air and they have created a network of gunshot sensors throughout the city that work by sound detection. This measure is in place to prevent and to identify the areas that need increased patrols. On a side bar, the whole approach to the test and all the variables were not well executed.

I believe it was on the Vodka episode when it was tested as a remedy for THE ITCHING! They did test a myth of poison oak, but collected poison ivy. Poison oak has five leaves, not three. I will be heard 'till the eyes and ears of every nonbeliever bleed with Vodka! Crikey, remedy this flaw already, and if thou hast already then I apologize for mine ignorance, for I have had not cable long. Zounds.

The 'busters danced around the reality of death due to falling bullets.
They acknowledged it is possible, but kept coming back to shooting straight up as not being lethal.
So what!
The people who take it personally and die from bullets coming down aren't being shot by their next-door neighbor, but by some doofus a mile away.
THOSE bullets retain lethal energy.
QED.
With much more rigid enforcement locally, the number of celebratory gunshots have diminished markedly, for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.
But there's always a few, and frequently, they get caught!

1) The show was about the myth of a bullet being fired straight up and killing someone.

2) johnnyk911 and Ming, the Merciless are talking about people who fire the bullets at an angle. It's NOT the same thing.

Really people.

The Vodka episode I want to comment on was the one where it would take away the soreness and infection of a Jellyfish sting.

First off, my sincere compliments to Kari for being so brave.

Secondly, the Vodka cleansing was done the same way as the soap and water cleansing - with a scouring brush. Hardly any difference there.

They are correct that its actually the brushing that takes the tiny Jellyfish barbs out and the alcohol in the Vodka may help in dissinfection.

But my first wife, a Hawaiin, had a faster and more effective method. I have seen her use it down in San Felipe, Mexico when a child of one of our friends was stung by a Jellyfish. Her father yelled, "Portuguese Man-O-War." A standard warning all professional divers (we worked on the Sealab II project together) call so immediate medical attention is given.

Thelana (my ex-wife's Hawaiin name) did not bother looking for warm water and soap, nor for Vodka, not even for a scrub brush. She ran down to the beach and applied a centurie's old Hawaiin remedy:

She rubbed wet beach sand onto the sting.

The sand was gritty enough to simulate a brush and the salt in the water stopped infection.

Basic level physics classes demonstrate that, when fired at an angle, the velocity of an object such as a bullet when it reaches the ground at any distance away is equal to the velocity at which it was fired.

This is due to the velocity vectors at work, here. When an object is fired straight up, all of it's momentum is directed upwards in a vertical vector. Acceleration due to gravity affects this vector, and therefore energy is lost as the projectile travels upwards.

On the other hand, when an object is fired at an angle, there is both a vertical and a horizontal vector. The horizontal vector remains unaffected by gravity and therefore the velocity when it hits the ground at whatever distance away should be identical to the velocity at which it was fired in that same direction.

In the show it was hard to find bullets but as a home owner in Los Angeles I can tell you for a fact, Just look in the shingles on your roof. I dug all the bullets in the picture out of mine.to the right of the dime is a silcone plug I used to try and stop the leak..
roof full of bullets

quote:

Originally posted by improvisor:
I think the fired up bullets are already busted first of all when you fre a bullet up the earth spins underneath it, and second is WIND!so there is no way bullet can wall back at you.

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Basic level physics classes demonstrate that, when fired at an angle, the velocity of an object such as a bullet when it reaches the ground at any distance away is equal to the velocity at which it was fired.

Sorry, but that is incorrect.

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therefore the velocity when it hits the ground at whatever distance away should be identical to the velocity at which it was fired in that same direction.

Also incorrect.

Hello,

Regarding the Fired up bullets, I am positively sure its deadly, like the doctor said ... another way to check it being lethal, check several available news at some other countries that got more than 3 cases of death due to bullets falling down on them ! But yet, If you look toward how they have been fired, some of the cases where bullets on an angle base. and some others on the straight up ... also consider that for a person to shoot in a cheerful day its much relaxing for him to go for an angle than going for a straight above head.

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Regarding the Fired up bullets, I am positively sure its deadly, like the doctor said ... another way to check it being lethal, check several available news at some other countries that got more than 3 cases of death due to bullets falling down on them !

If the bullets are fired at an angle other than straight up. When fired straight up, they are very unlikely to be lethal.

You guys NEVER take into account chaos theory (butterfly effect) For instance, in the Bullet Straight Up experiment...it is impossible to duplicate results because every time the bullet is fired it will fall and hit the ground at a different attitude, determined by minute variations in wind, air temperature and other unmeasurable variables. Here's a myth to bust...if a butterfly flaps its wings...(you finish the sentence).

quote:

Originally posted by master_sergeant:

quote:

Basic level physics classes demonstrate that, when fired at an angle, the velocity of an object such as a bullet when it reaches the ground at any distance away is equal to the velocity at which it was fired.

Sorry, but that is incorrect.

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therefore the velocity when it hits the ground at whatever distance away should be identical to the velocity at which it was fired in that same direction.

Also incorrect.

Could you explain how this is incorrect?

Note that I'm referring to equations which ignore the affect of air resistance, which obviously is a variable that decreases momentum. I'm also referring to the specific value of the horizontal vector (or x-vector) and not the resultant (angled) vector of velocity.

You have to figure in air resistance. Run the calculations on any decent ballistics calculator. Velocity at terminus is always less than at launch.

in the Doctor's case they stated that the shot was from about a mile away. The max distance of a 30-06 is about 2.5 to 3 miles when fired at around 35 degree muzzle angle, so the in the Dr case it was probably fired with around a 20 degree muzzle angle (angle off horiz), or 70 degrees off vertical, so not anywhwere close to vertical.

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which obviously is a variable that decreases momentum.

BTW, most correctly the decrease is to velocity.

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Originally posted by master_sergeant:

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which obviously is a variable that decreases momentum.

BTW, most correctly the decrease is to velocity.

You're right - velocity, not momentum.

The point of my post was to show that even a basic, high school level, Algebra-based physics course (which always ignores air resistance in calculations) dives into trajectories enough to show that firing a bullet at an angle will still maintain enough velocity to kill you. Even with calculating air resistance, the decrease in velocity for a bullet is rather small.

Hatchers notebook has a whole chapter on falling bullets. It concludes that a .30 caliber bullet falling at termintal velocity of 300 fps corresponds to about 30 ft lbs of energy, and previous studies by the Army show 60 ft lbs is necessary to cause a diabling wound.

quote:

The point of my post was to show that even a basic, high school level, Algebra-based physics course (which always ignores air resistance in calculations) dives into trajectories enough to show that firing a bullet at an angle will still maintain enough velocity to kill you. Even with calculating air resistance, the decrease in velocity for a bullet is rather small.

While your premise that a bullet fired at less than vertical can retain enough velocity to be lethal is correct, the loss of velocity can still be quite significant, on the order of thousands of feet per second.

Here is an online ballistic calculator. Have fun with it: http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/calculations/calculations.html

Bullets fired even 10 or 20 degrees off vertical are NOT lethal on return. Air resistance is HUGE. Ignoring it, equations will show a 5.56mm round will go over 10 miles, but in reality will only go a little over 2 miles. Ask any sniper.