Ballistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ballistics - Essay Example There are two types of ballistics, interior and exterior ballistics. Interior ballistics concerns itself with the thermodynamics and chemistry that occurs in a guns barrel. Exterior ballistics concerns itself with the motion of a bullet that comes from a gun. This paper concerns itself with the mathematics that occurs from the exterior ballistics. This paper seeks to identify how mathematics helps to determine the distance and trajectory of a bullet. Coupland and Rothchild (2011) denote that motion is of two types, that is natural motion, and violent motion. Natural motion faces resistance from air or water, basically because it occurs in such kind of a medium. An example of a natural motion is the falling of a stone, or the rising of a smoke. Violent motion on the other hand occurs as a result of an application of force. An example of a violent motion is the movement of a bullet from a firearm. Coupland and Rothchild (2011) denote that the weight of the object and the force in which an individual applies to a motion object will determine the distance and the speed in which the motion object under consideration will move. (Pender, 2012).Before determining on how to use mathematics to determine the distance and trajectory of a bullet, it is important to understand that a trajectory determination does not identify and reveal the occurrences prior to an individual holding the gun (McCoy, 2012). It only identifies the distance, and the nature of the weapons used by the criminals. In calculating the distance and trajectory of a bullet, it is important to denote that a bullet under motion faces two types of forces, that is the force of gravity, and the natural force brought by the air around which the bullet flies. In calculating a distance that a bullet covers, it is important to denote that bullets have a ballistic coefficient of G1 (Pender, 2012). The ballistic coefficient of a bullet (G1) allows an individual to scale the bullets drag to the standard projectile e stablished by the Gavre Commission. The standard ballistic coefficient of a bullet established by the Gavre commission was 1.000 (Warlow, 2012). This standard allows an individual to calculate how many feet’s a projectile will lose a given number of velocities in comparison to a distance a standard projectile will cover, after losing the same amount of velocity, under similar atmospheric environment. For example, a G 1 standard projectile drops approximately 2904 to 3000 fps over a distance of 100 yards. This is at a standard meteorological condition. If the bullet under consideration will have a ballistic coefficient of 0.5, the bullet will drop from 3000fps to 2904 fps in a distance of 50 yards (Kieser and Taylor, 2013). This distance is calculated in this manner,100 yards multiply by 0.5= 50 yards. From these calculations, we can denote that when the ballistic coefficient of a bullet is big, the weight and shape of the bullet have a lesser drag. The bullet will also lose i ts velocity in a slower manner, and the rate of its deflection by the wind is minimal. This calculation will mostly affect artilleries made in the standard shapes of the 1800s, in which the Gavre commission established the bullets ballistic coefficient (Warlow, 2012). However, in the current century, manufactures have different shapes of a projectile which also have a different G1standard.On this basis, different G I standards, and Ballistic coefficients work over a limited number of velocities. On this basis therefore, modern bullets have a specified ballistic coefficient, over a given and different velocity range. This is because the shapes