Horizontal Motion of a Fired Bullet

What determines the time a bullet fired horizontally is in the air?

A bullet is fired horizontally at a height of 1.3 meters and a velocity of 950 m/s. How long was the bullet in the air?

Answer:

The bullet was 0.52 seconds in the air.

Horizontal motion occurs when an object is thrown horizontally with a speed v from a height h. The object follows a curved path due to gravity until it hits the ground.

To calculate the time the object takes to hit the ground, we use the equation:

t = √(2y/g)

Since the bullet is fired horizontally at a height of 1.3 meters, we plug in the values:

t = √(2*1.3/9.8)

t = √(2.6/9.8)

t = 0.52 seconds

Any object on Earth is subject to gravitational force, including a bullet fired horizontally. The time the bullet spends in the air is determined by the height it is fired from, not its initial velocity. Therefore, the bullet in this scenario spent 0.52 seconds in the air before hitting the ground.