Questions about the irrelevance of energy (ft-lbs)

[HandgunHTR]

Yea I should have said rifle not shooter. The point was that the bullet receives more energy due to it having smaller mass.

No it doesn't. The energy is the exact same. The reason the bullet travels at a much higher speed is because of the smaller mass. If you could magically make a rifle weigh the same as the bullet, it would travel the same speed as the bullet, just in the opposite direction.

 

[BigCountry49]

No it doesn't. The energy is the exact same. The reason the bullet travels at a much higher speed is because of the smaller mass. If you could magically make a rifle weigh the same as the bullet, it would travel the same speed as the bullet, just in the opposite direction.

Wait, so you’re saying the rifle receives the same amount of energy as the bullet?

 

[waldo9190]

Wait, so you’re saying the rifle receives the same amount of energy as the bullet?

Well when you think about the fact that object A (bullet) weighs 150-ish grains, and object B (rifle) weighs 70,000-ish grains, its not so hard to fathom how one of them moves significantly faster than the other.

 

[Bluefish]

No it doesn't. The energy is the exact same. The reason the bullet travels at a much higher speed is because of the smaller mass. If you could magically make a rifle weigh the same as the bullet, it would travel the same speed as the bullet, just in the opposite direction.

I think energy is being substituted for momentum. The momentum is conserved, energy is calculated from the velocity of the objects in motion. Since the larger object moves more slowly, energy is significantly less due to the velocity being squared in energy and not in momentum. Energy = 1/2 x mass x velocity ^2, momentum = mass x velocity.

 

[Caseknife]

Wait, so you’re saying the rifle receives the same amount of energy as the bullet?

Newton's Third Law of Motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, yes, @HandgunHTR statement is correct . If the rifle weighed the same as the projectile and powder, wouldn't want to pull the trigger standing behind it.

 

[BigCountry49]

Newton's Third Law of Motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, yes, @HandgunHTR statement is correct . If the rifle weighed the same as the projectile and powder, wouldn't want to pull the trigger standing behind it.

Newton’s third law applies to force and momentum, not energy. The rifle will receive the same amount of momentum, but not the same energy as the bullet.