I'm trying to work out the physics of fairies, and since we don't have hummingbirds with tiny AK's, I've resorted to asking people more knowledgeable.
If you were flying with wings on your back and you fired a single shot from a decent rifle, would the recoil just throw you out of the sky or otherwise destabilise you?
What would happen if you shot a gun whilst flying?
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Responses (1)
That is a little question with a big answer. Basically, f=ma. So it takes a force f to accelerate a bullet of mass m, and your body has to endure an equal force in the opposite direction. Because your body has a higher mass, the acceleration is lower. In the case of a rifle the mass is maybe 10 grams and your body is 50,000 to 100,000 grams so the recoil is slight but not zero.
A shotgun is a different story. The lead typically weighs around 40 to 60 grams and there is a lot more gun powder producing a lot more force to accelerate it. So a shotgun is harder to withstand and can even cause injury if you hold it wrong.