m855_65g_bullets.jpgIf you sho0t a bullet from a hunting rifle, barrel parallel to the Earth’s surface and dropped a bullet at the same time from the same height, which bullet hits the ground first? Phrased more specifically, assuming negligible air resistance and, for the range of the bullet, the Earth below doesn’t curve significantly, and assuming the hunting rifle isn’t powerful enough to put the bullet into orbit, and assuming there are no hills or valleys in the bullet’s path, if you shot a bullet from a hunting rifle, barrel parallel to the Earth’s surface and dropped a bullet at the same time from the same height, which bullet would hit the ground first?

Given those assumptions, the fired and dropped bullets HIT THE GROUND AT THE SAME TIME, because “according to Galileo’s Law, all objects near the Earth’s surface fall with the same constant acceleration, 9.8 meters permonkey_and_hunter.gif second per second (32 feet per second per second), regardless of the object’s weight. Furthermore, horizontal motions and vertical motions are independent: gravity acts only upon an object’s vertical velocity, not upon its velocity in the horizontal direction. ” This is often shown in college intro physics classes with the Monkey and the Hunter experiment.
srcs: http://www.physclips.unsw.edu.au/jw/monkey_hunter.html http://van.physics.uiuc.edu/qa/listing.php?id=187