In answer to the question about bullets:
The answers so far have neglected the fact that a rifle bullet gets its
initial high velocity and distance by the rifling on the barrel, which gives
it a spin along a horizontal (longitudinal) axis, much like throwing a football.
As a rifle bullet travels a long distance this spin is diminished until
random perturbations in the air will cause the bullet to begin to tumble,
hence losing much of its velocity.
In the case of a 38 or similar bullet, this effect occurs much sooner, as
the horizontal (longitudinal) axis spin is almost non-existent.
Having said that, during World War 1 there were recorded cases of a 303
rifle bullet killing someone at a distance of 5 miles - from my reading of
old letters, this was usually where the bullet penetrated through eyes, ears
or some other weak part of the torso, sufficiently wide enough to take a
tumbling bullet.
Perhaps this is why we all wear hard hats on building sites - to protect us
from stray falling bullets!!!!
Cheers
Peter VK3QI
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