October 6th 2023Have you ever wondered what the air surrounding a supersonic bullet looks like? This video is from the Bryan Litz Facebook page. This is a Schlieren* video of a 6mm 109gr Berger LRHT at approximately 2800 fps, fired from Francis Colon’s PRS rifle at Applied Ballistics Lab.Bryan Litz writes: “You can see the shock wave (compression) at the front of bullet. This bullet is moving at about 2.5 times the speed sound, so a compression wave is created when the air must move faster to get out of its way. This shock wave is what you hear when bullets pass you, if/when they are downrange. The energy required to compress the air into a’shockwave’ comes from the forward velocity of the bullet. This energy is then converted into heat and sound as the shockwave forms and dissipates. The turbulent wake around the base of bullet shows how/where base drag is applied. Skin friction drag is the third and smallest drag component for a supersonic ball. It is a viscous layer boundary effect and is not visible in this picture. As you head out to the range or hunting stand, consider the absolute violence that your bullets are committing before they reach their target! Subscribe to the Science of Accuracy Academy to get more precision rifle and long-range shooting content. LINK: TheScienceofAccuracy.com. * Schlieren imaging can make air flow features visible. SEESchlieren Photography Wikipedia page.
Similar PostsTags: Bryan Litz Bullet Video Science of Accuracy Academy Vortex Giveaway
