...What 'Point Blank' Means.

A triple dose today everyone!!!! I usually update this blog at work. I know that seems odd since I should be working, but its literally the graveyard shift (see previous post) and there's not much to do. I had a couple days off work and didn't get a chance to update this thing but that didn't mean I stopped learning. So I took a note about all the things I learned and will hit you with all three today. Please contain the excitement.

You hear this term on the news often enough 'point blank'. You've most likely heard it during a story about a shooting somewhere and I'm sure you have an idea of what it means. I always just assumed that it meant 'close range' which is correct, but at what point does it stop being 'point break' range? The answer lies with a bit of ballistic science.

I think I used Google Images wrong....

To put it simply and obviously, gravity makes things fall (bonus fact - gravity is actually a very weak force. Think about this, when we were kids we used to rub ballons on our hair, stick it to the wall, and they stayed up, defying gravity. You literally have the whole mass of the earth pulling down on that ballon, but the static force keeps it up. Same with fridge magnets not falling due to magnetic forces).

Fun before the internet.

Anyway.........when you fire a bullet it will eventually hit the ground due to gravity. 'Point Blank" range is the distance between the shooter and the target at which you do not have to adjust for gravity. Long range snipers have to aim just above their target creating an arc for the bullet.

Another bullet fact, one which I have a hard time wrapping my head around. If you were to fire a gun straight ahead (flat with the ground) with one hand. Then drop a bullet from your hand to the ground (straight down, no horizontal movement), both bullets will hit the ground at the same time. I looked it up and it still doesn't seem right.......

Now I get it....

And that is what I learned today.

Reading/Sources: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/118779
http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/2009/10/mythbusters-bringing-on-the-physics-bullet-drop.php