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When you fire a gun into the air...

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Posted 29 February 2008 - 01:35 PM

Bullets leave the barrel much faster than their terminal velocity. 'Terminal velocity' doesn't mean the fastest something can go, simply the fastest something will fall unaided due to air resistance cancelling out the acceleration due to gravity. A gun will temporarily impart a much greater velocity to the bullet, but air resistance will lessen that velocity until eventually it travels no faster than its terminal velocity, the equilibrium point.

I'm not 100% sure, but I wouldn't think the rotation usually applied to a bullet has anything to do with reducing the friction the air provides. Seems much more likely to me that it's an attempt to provide a straighter path for the bullet, and to lessen the chance of deflection. The spinning of the bullet would provide a much more stable flight through the air, if you think about it as acting kind of like a gyroscope.
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