The stopping of a projectile in a fluid medium: “What is the distance traversed, into the water, by a .50 caliber bullet having a mass of 50 g and initial speed of 850 m/s?”

Abstract

A simple model is developed, for the stopping that a projectile with initial speed of hundreds of meters per second undergoes in the water. The model involves knowledge of Fluid Mechanics and Mathematics, at the student level from General Physics course. Empirical evidences which corroborate the counterintuitive predictions of the model are presented.

Keywords

• mecânica de fluidos
• projétil
• frenagem pela água