Firing Guns in Outer Space
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Outland
global_global — 13 years ago(August 01, 2012 05:16 PM)
At the end, we find out Ballard is the man on the inside (the black guy that was promoted after the former police captain was killed). He goes out in a space suit to get O'Niel, who's also outside in a space suit taking care of the two guys who came in on the ship.
Now, Ballard fires his shotgun several times at O'Niel. First, wouldn't that be pretty difficult to do while wearing a space suit? More importantly, can a gun even be fired in space, and if yes, can it be fired the same way it is on earth (or a similar atmosphere)?
Wouldn't it either not shoot, or the bullet wouldn't travel the way it does normally?
I don't know the answer, asking in all seriousness.
In the film, Ballard is able to shoot his gun despite wearing the bulky space suit, and the bullets travel at the same velocity and same direction they would as on earth. -
pfnuesel — 13 years ago(August 06, 2012 10:48 AM)
I don't know the answers either, but still chip in my two cents.
Firing a normal shotgun would probably be difficult with the bulky space suits, but then they might have made a shotgun for people wearing exactly those bulky space suits.
I don't see a reason why the shotgun would not work without the atmospheric pressure. In fact, the bullet would be less decelerated by the sparse atmosphere on Io and their trajectory would be less bent due to smaller gravitational effects. All in all, I'd say it would be pretty much the same as on Earth. -
nizzemancer-265-952005 — 13 years ago(October 18, 2012 03:17 PM)
There's no oxygenNo oxygen means no ignition of the gun-powder which means no expansion of gasses meaning no projectile fired.
The russian gun you speak of was either for use inside the stations atmosphere or it was using special ammunition. -
graham-167 — 10 years ago(July 29, 2015 06:42 AM)
There's no oxygenNo oxygen means no ignition of the gun-powder which means no expansion of gasses meaning no projectile fired.
Yes, there is. Cordite has Oxygen built in as part of the chemical itself. It doesn't need outside Oxygen to burn. Guns would fire in a vacuum just fine.
Think about it - even on Earth, the cordite in a bullet is sealed inside a brass casing, right? And that's inside a barrel that is also sealed to the air, except at the front. So Oxygen from the air has no way to get to the cordite even on Earth. If bullets needed outside Oxygen, the casings and barrels would have to have little vent holes drilled in the sides.
If you doubt it, here's a video of a perfectly normal gun being fired inside a Vacuum chamber with no air in it :
Christianity : A god who loves you so much that he'll set fire to you if you don't love him back -
ta2me92704 — 13 years ago(November 14, 2012 07:44 PM)
No, you're still wrong. They contain their own oxygen in the primer compounds and powder.
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=471
https://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d &spell=1&q=will+guns+fire+in+space&sa=X&ei=JGOkUKb9Naa 7igK_lYBw&ved=0CDAQvwUoAA&biw=1024&bih=513"]http://ww w.lifeslittlemysteries.com/2167-gun-shoot-space.html
https://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off& amp;tbo=d&spell=1&q=will+guns+fire+in+space&sa=X&ei=JG OkUKb9Naa7igK_lYBw&ved=0CDAQvwUoAA&biw=1024&bih=513
My ignore list is much too long for a sig line. -
zap644 — 12 years ago(November 03, 2013 02:52 PM)
Thank you. I was going to ask another poster for a citation, but you've provided them. It makes sense and I'm glad they used shotguns instead of going for some cheap standby like laser guns.
Someday there may be laser guns that one can carry as easily as a shotgun, but lasers require a lot of power especially if you're going to use them for more than just blinding your target. -
palmercin — 13 years ago(January 26, 2013 10:01 PM)
The title of this thread. It is a spoiler unto itself. To a degree. You nerds and your spoiler warning bs for old films. Not like this is current and in the cinemas.
http://lscottpalmer.blogspot.com/ -
JSouth1 — 12 years ago(November 22, 2013 11:40 PM)
And that is something of an enigma. One of the earliest proposed uses for lasersLONG before the "information age" or medical uses for themwas as a weapon, a "death ray". They are all over the old sci-fi movies, someone shoots one at someone or somethingand they glows red or blue and then vanish. NOT reality. In order to do that..you would need a LOT of power from the laserwhich as others statedis NOT possible. Perhaps with a laser driven chemically or such, like a COIL laserthis might be possiblebut STILL is not (yet) reality.
Of courseLasers are one of the BIGGEST, if not biggest examplesof a "sword being turned into a plowshare" . WHile not really useful as a weapon, at least in compact, portable sizethey are useful for SO many other things!! SO many fields use a laser in themthey are commonplace and not really "sci-fi" anymore". Most people even have several in their homeswhether they know it or notLike the computer, once somewhat sci-fi and esotericLasers are everywhere, cheap, used for a lot of things and simple.
JUst NOT as a weapon. -
James-169 — 9 years ago(June 01, 2016 08:37 PM)
I haven't seen the film in many years, but as to the shotguns firing in space thing: They should still fire, but if you weren't strapped down I would think it would send the guy pulling the trigger in the opposite direction.