How Dangerous could a Falling Bullet be?

For every object that is thrown or fired from the Earth’s surface, “What goes up, must come down” holds true. Regardless of how fast a bullet may be fired by a gunpowder burst, it will never exit the Earth’s atmosphere. In order to slow it down, gravity and air resistance will work together to bring it back down to Earth’s surface.

It doesn’t need that many details to understand that gunshots are deadly. Because of its high rate of fire, AK-47 ammunition is capable of reaching speeds of up to 1500 mph (670 m/s) when fired. Bullets with a mass of roughly 5 grams (0.2 ounces) have the same amount of energy as a brick dropped from 16 stories.

Source: Debunked / YouTube

Unless, of course, you’re on the Moon, a bullet shot straight up will only reach you with the same velocity when it returns to Earth. Because of the presence of a large atmosphere here on Earth, air resistance changes its speed.

Falling bullets return to Earth at a speed of just around 150 mph (241 km/h), or about 10% of the speed at which they were fired.

The following video from Debunked / YouTube explains this topic in detail:

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