Science Fact or Science Fiction?
Guns Litter Almost every action movie that has come out in the past year. Whether is is a western movie resulting in a shootout, a sci fi movie questioning reality, or a group of assassins trying to fight destiny, guns are always present. Despite so many action movies having guns these days, have the physics of projectiles and firearms haven't always hit the mark. Although movies like to bend the laws of physics a little bit to make the movie more interesting, certain physics of bullets and projectiles break the laws of physics for no intended reason. Unnecessary bullet physics such as a bullet travelling through many different objects without stopping or shattering, bullets hitting objects but causing no damage to them at all, and bullets providing different amounts of force despite being fired from the same gun.
The movie Wanted, is a movie about assassins trying to change destiny even when getting glimpses of the future. This movie has a lot of tricks with guns and firearms, such as the famous bullet curve. Although the movie has some famous and interesting tricks with guns, there were certain flaws with the movie which may not have been intended. During the final scene, the protagonist fires a rifle from a very long distance. The bullet travels through many different objects, such as car windows, a full soda can, windows of a building, and then finally completely through a man's skull. There are many things wrong with this scene, but there are subtle things wrong with it that don't do this scene any justice. The most unnoticed part of this scene would be when the bullet hits the soda can and passes through it. Disregarding the distance and force that the bullet is travelling (which is extremely pushed physics), this scene would not work. When bullets are fired, they are incredibly hot. The air resistance when the bullet travels cools the bullets down, but the bullets still retain much of their heat. When a bullet travels through a medium such as water, the result is much different. Liquids cool down the bullets much quicker than air can, and also cause a lot more resistance. Because of this, the rapid cooling of the bullet makes the copper very brittle, and will cause the bullet to break and shatter. When the bullet traveled through the soda can however, it did not show any signs of rapid cooling or shattering. On the show Mythbusters, the hosts Adam and Jamie did a test of bullets and water, which showed that larger caliber shells are more susceptible to breaking and shattering than small caliber shells.
Is it a rifle he fired, or an artillery shell?
Part of the Mythbusters episode which was mentioned above
The comical movie The Naked Gun has its share of funny and slapstick shootout scenes. The parody of western shootouts is only heightened by its use of bending and breaking physics. However, certain mistakes can be seen in this movie than were most likely unintended. During a shootout on the roof of a building, the protagonist is firing away at the enemies with his handgun. The enemies are firing back at him, while everyone is taking cover from the onslaught of bullets. The scene becomes a parody of western shootouts, when the camera becomes a wide shot, and it shows how close in proximity everybody is. Despite the satire, there is a flaw in physics which most likely were unnoticed. The guns fired bullets from a very close range, and firing multiple rounds of bullets. While the protagonist hid behind an empty oil drum, the drum protected him from the oncoming bullets. Despite being bombarded with bullets, the old oil drum was unaffected from the impact of the bullets, and did not bend or bow in any way. This is unreal because the bullets would have had enough force to pierce the flimsy metal and go straight through the barrel from being so close in proximity. Even if the bullets had ricocheted from the barrel, there would have been signs of impact.
The most impenetrable metal barrel known to human existence
In the western movie Open Range, the whole whole movie is building up to the final confrontation between the protagonist and the Irishmen. During one of the greatest shootouts in western film history however, some unintentional flaws in physics subtly made their way into the scene. When the protagonist shoots an enemy in the head, the enemy doesn't move at all, and slowly falls backwards. When the protagonist shoots the next guy over in the leg, the man flys backwards several meters. The force of both bullets were the same on both targets, and both targets had similar masses. Despite this, one man fly's backwards from an angled shot hitting him in the leg, while the other doesn't move and inch. What should have happened, if the bullets had enough force to move both men, is that the man shot in the leg should fallen forward in the same spot, when the man shot in the head should have fallen backwards a foot or two. The impact in the leg should have looked more similar to having a rug pulled from under ones feet. The man shot in the head at a straight angle should have pushed back further, especially if it is believed the bullet was still in the mans head and did not pass through.
(the shots begin at 2:46 - 3:01)
Physics is often overlooked during shootouts and gun movies, especially in the small details. Because movie sets don't use real guns and real bullets, the emulation of guns and bullets relies heavily on the actors and effects artists. Because bullets play a pivotal role in action movies today, it is important to get the physics correct in the small details, while correctly pushing them in the large details to add excitement. It is easy to overlook bullets physics, especially when so many movies push the physics of them, but once you understand the physics of projectiles, resistance, and force, the mistakes become not so subtle.
