Hypothetical Question...

[J.J. Maxx]

If you are on a train going the speed of a bullet shot from the gun of a sniper rifle and you're target was someone standing on the ground next to the tracks, and you shot at him off the back of the train, would the bullet just hover there in front of your targets face? What if you shot someone in the train from front to back? It doesn't make sense to me.

[moocow]

ow.
that hurt.

Thanks,you made me think, butthole.

[Jemsee]

Right.
GD think tank.
The bullet would after leaving the gun loose the momentum of the train and take on it's own and fly straight away to its target.
Anyway not to many trains travil the speed of a sniper bullet.

On the train the bullet and train are subject to earths gravity and act indepently of each other.
So if you shot to the frunt of the train the bullet would travil forward, if you shot back it would travil back.

This same situation works in a space station traviling at hundreds of miles an hour in orbet. How come if it is moving so fast, and you let somthing go it does not fly to the back of the ship?
It just flotes in midair weightless but all the whyle traviling the same rate of speed as the ship.

[deathbyhokie]

actually if you shot from back to front, wouldn't the bullet hove momentarily, and then come back and hit you? and jemsee, i'm not sure, but i don't think gravity has much to do with it. more inertia and momentum

[Menokh]

Originally posted by deathbyhokie
actually if you shot from back to front, wouldn't the bullet hove momentarily, and then come back and hit you? and jemsee, i'm not sure, but i don't think gravity has much to do with it. more inertia and momentum

It would not hover.
Before you shoot the bullet all things on the train are going the same speed, the gun, the bullet etc. When you fire the gun the bullet would fly foward anyway at the same rate it would normally(for you it would seem to be traveling at normal speed), while to an observer outside the train it would appear to be going twice as fast as normal.

Photons are one of the few things in the universe that travel at the same constant speed regardless of wether or not the source is moving. Almost everythign else adds its gained momentum to the momentum and inertia it already has.

[deathbyhokie]

ok. i understand now. thank you menohk

[inori]

Originally posted by Menokh
It would not hover.
Before you shoot the bullet all things on the train are going the same speed, the gun, the bullet etc. When you fire the gun the bullet would fly foward anyway at the same rate it would normally(for you it would seem to be traveling at normal speed), while to an observer outside the train it would appear to be going twice as fast as normal.

Except that in the original statement, the bullet was being shot at someone who was not on board the train. In any case, though, the bullet would still not "hover"... gravity is still working on the bullet, so it would just fall down to the ground. To the observer on the train (the guy who shot the gun), it would appear to travel at the velocity of a bullet, but to the observer on the ground, it would appear to travel at the velocity of a bullet plus the velocity of the train. Both velocities have the same magnitude, but opposite directions, so their sum is zero. Then gravity takes over and drops the bullet just like any other object.

BTW, you could do a similar experiment... throw some object backward out of a moving car. If you can match the speed of the car to the speed with which you throw the object, the object will drop straight down to an outside observer.

[Mander]

So you wanted to know that because...........???

[Ich]

I think he was just bored. The forward motion of the car, train etc. is canceled by the backwards motion of the projectile.

[link102]

Originally posted by J.J. Maxx
If you are on a train going the speed of a bullet shot from the gun of a sniper rifle and you're target was someone standing on the ground next to the tracks, and you shot at him off the back of the train, would the bullet just hover there in front of your targets face? What if you shot someone in the train from front to back? It doesn't make sense to me.

If thats so, the train comanny has bad security:laughing:

[mikeron]

First case: If you shot right as you passed the guy standing there, the bullet would fall straight down next to him, after traveling through the barrel, of course.

Second case: Depends on the length of the train - the bullet would fall down without any movement, relevant to the ground/train, toward your target in the back of the train. However, since the target is moving toward the bullet at the speed of the train, he would hit the bullet as long as he is within range of the rifle. If the range of the rifle, when fired level, is 1 mile, then the target will be hit if the length of the train is less than or equal to 1 mile.

[link102]

:( I feel sorry for the target