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Re: OMFG! SE is nerfing NIN and RNG!!!
Should note that the v should be v^2. It's not really momentum that's calculated, but energy. Interestingly, increasing velocity adds damage by the square--which is why something moving twice as fast nets four times the damage, which is handy to know why people start dying really easily in car accidents above a certain threshold, even if it seems low speed.
Air resistance still has a significant effect on ranged performance. It limits the performance of arrows much faster than bullets because of the higher surface area drag, but even bullets have fairly sharp power drop offs as range increases. Ballistic tests at firing ranges show an exponential drop off in power delivered on target as range increases. Close ranges it's negligable, but certain bullets have trouble piercing certain armors at more than medium ranges, and it's from air resistance.
In the case of flechette (arrow-like) projectiles, the method of flight is different from bullets. Flechettes have a very flat trajectory for most of their flight path, then suddenly drop off as air resistance slows them down. They rely on a fluid--in this case air to keep them aloft by increasing resistance to any movement except forward. (Although they rely on resistance to stay pointed forward) When the air resistance slows down the speed and movement resistance is compromised, gravity takes over and pulls the projectile back down. Air resistance is everything here--it helps and it hurts. It matters more than gravity in this case.
Bow fired arrows work a little different, since they don't achieve the speed of anything near your standard flechette, used by shotguns, tanks, and various experimental small arms. Since they don't have the sheer velocity, air slows them down to the point that gravity takes over much sooner. Hence you see them used more like mortar fire in a large arc over a battlefield, so that in conjunction with gravity, they can achieve a higher terminal velocity by the time they impact.
Bullets also display this, but to a lesser degree as they don't have enough surface area to create the same 'lift-like' effect. Horizontal performance is less hindered, but all bullets have a pronouced balistic curve.
A fluid like air is very important to the flight characteristics of pojectiles. In a vacum, all objects will fall very fast, at the max speed that gravity will accelerate. A piece of paper will fall at 9.8m/s^2, just the way a bullet will after leaving the barrel. But add in air, and things fall much more slowly, and at differing rates depending on a huge number of factors.
But as Icemage said, in the end it's about pressure delivered on target. It's why knives go though bulletproof vests, while the rounded bullet of a standard pistol doesn't.
Originally posted by Rones
Air resistance still has a significant effect on ranged performance. It limits the performance of arrows much faster than bullets because of the higher surface area drag, but even bullets have fairly sharp power drop offs as range increases. Ballistic tests at firing ranges show an exponential drop off in power delivered on target as range increases. Close ranges it's negligable, but certain bullets have trouble piercing certain armors at more than medium ranges, and it's from air resistance.
In the case of flechette (arrow-like) projectiles, the method of flight is different from bullets. Flechettes have a very flat trajectory for most of their flight path, then suddenly drop off as air resistance slows them down. They rely on a fluid--in this case air to keep them aloft by increasing resistance to any movement except forward. (Although they rely on resistance to stay pointed forward) When the air resistance slows down the speed and movement resistance is compromised, gravity takes over and pulls the projectile back down. Air resistance is everything here--it helps and it hurts. It matters more than gravity in this case.
Bow fired arrows work a little different, since they don't achieve the speed of anything near your standard flechette, used by shotguns, tanks, and various experimental small arms. Since they don't have the sheer velocity, air slows them down to the point that gravity takes over much sooner. Hence you see them used more like mortar fire in a large arc over a battlefield, so that in conjunction with gravity, they can achieve a higher terminal velocity by the time they impact.
Bullets also display this, but to a lesser degree as they don't have enough surface area to create the same 'lift-like' effect. Horizontal performance is less hindered, but all bullets have a pronouced balistic curve.
A fluid like air is very important to the flight characteristics of pojectiles. In a vacum, all objects will fall very fast, at the max speed that gravity will accelerate. A piece of paper will fall at 9.8m/s^2, just the way a bullet will after leaving the barrel. But add in air, and things fall much more slowly, and at differing rates depending on a huge number of factors.
But as Icemage said, in the end it's about pressure delivered on target. It's why knives go though bulletproof vests, while the rounded bullet of a standard pistol doesn't.
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