Idiot KKK initiation

[triadboy]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/11/24/klan.initiation.ap/index.html


A few more initiations like this and they will dissolve themselves

 

[HarryKeogh]

from the article: "A bullet fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony came down and struck a participant in the head, critically injuring him"


how does this happen? if gravity was that strong than all those urban legends about throwing nickels off the empire state building can kill someone are true.

i would expect a bullet falling on your head would cause you to say "ouch, that hurts" not penetrate and exit your skull.

 

[geni]

Wasn't there a thread on this board where it was decided that bullets that were fired straigt up could not hurt people. Does this conclusion need to be changed?

Eddited to add HarryKeogh beat me to it

 

[DarkPrimus]

if gravity was that strong than all those urban legends about throwing nickels off the empire state building can kill someone are true.

I don't know about killing, but it would seriously injure them.

i would expect a bullet falling on your head would cause you to say "ouch, that hurts" not penetrate and exit your skull.

It's fairly simple to understand.

A bullet travels into the air at X feet per second (fps). Eventually, it will stop travelling upward, and fall back down. Considering how far a bullet is able to travel up into the air (over half a mile, usually), the acceleration it experiences while falling is at least equal to it being fired from a gun.


EDIT:
Some backing up of what I stated.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question281.htm

If you fire a gun into the air, the bullet will travel up to a mile high (depending on the angle of the shot and the power of the gun). Once it reaches its apogee, the bullet will fall. Air resistance limits its speed, but bullets are designed to be fairly aerodynamic, so the speed is still quite lethal if the bullet happens to hit someone. In rural areas, the chance of hitting someone is remote because the number of people is low. In crowded cities, however, the probability rises dramatically, and people get killed quite often by stray bullets. Most major cities have laws in place to try to keep people from shooting guns into the air in celebration.

I suppose I should mention that on average, two people are injured or killed on Marti Gras in New Orleans by falling bullets.

 

[arcticpenguin]

Here's the thread over in current events for those interested in more analysis and cruel humor.

 

[calladus]

I don't know about killing, but it would seriously injure them.



It's fairly simple to understand.

A bullet travels into the air at X feet per second (fps). Eventually, it will stop travelling upward, and fall back down. Considering how far a bullet is able to travel up into the air (over half a mile, usually), the acceleration it experiences while falling is at least equal to it being fired from a gun.


EDIT:
Some backing up of what I stated.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question281.htm



I suppose I should mention that on average, two people are injured or killed on Marti Gras in New Orleans by falling bullets.

In Fresno, New Years Eve always leads to bullets. A couple of years ago a bullet came through the ceiling of an apartment and lodged in a teenage girl's shoulder.

 

[c4ts]

Yes! Yes! Klan members shoot themselves!

They need to do it more often.

 

[espritch]

Freeman fled the ceremony but was arrested near his home, authorities said. He was released on $7,500 bail.

Looks like they set the bail equal to the price of his trailer.

 

[fishbob]

Is it not possible that Freeman just missed while trying to shoot into the air?

 

[HarryKeogh]

I don't know about killing, but it would seriously injure them.



It's fairly simple to understand.

A bullet travels into the air at X feet per second (fps). Eventually, it will stop travelling upward, and fall back down. Considering how far a bullet is able to travel up into the air (over half a mile, usually), the acceleration it experiences while falling is at least equal to it being fired from a gun.


EDIT:
Some backing up of what I stated.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question281.htm



I suppose I should mention that on average, two people are injured or killed on Marti Gras in New Orleans by falling bullets.

i stand VERY corrected.

 

[El Greco]

Considering how far a bullet is able to travel up into the air (over half a mile, usually), the acceleration it experiences while falling is at least equal to it being fired from a gun.

You must mean "velocity", the acceleration cannot possibly be > 9,81 m/(sec^2), the gravitation acceleration (= g). If we assume that a bullet reaches a maximum height of 800m (= h), it will fall on the ground after Sqrt(2h/g), in approximately 13 sec (= t). At the moment of impact it will have a velocity of g*t, approximately 127 m/sec (which should be near the inital velocity of the bullet when fired, but of course not greater).

 

[sackett]

Falling bullets

This business of falling bullets is more complicated than it appears. The terminal velocity of a falling object depends on its shape and density, and on whether it's tumbling. (Probably some more factors in there somewhere; alas, I yam but a iggerunt fellow.)

Muzzle velocities of modern cartridge arms vary from ~800 feet per second for a .45 auto to ~3,300 fps for some high-speed .22s. But a falling 230-grain .45 bullet is one helluva lot more dangerous than a falling 55-grain .223.

I marvel that -any- falling object as small as a bullet could penetrate the skull of a Kluxer, but maybe all those generations of cousin-marriage are having an effect.