ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel SmarterEveryDay Bullets HITTING Bullets in Slow Motion – THE IMPOSSIBLE SHOT – Smarter Every Day 287
Welcome to an exciting exploration of physics and engineering! Today, we’re diving into a fascinating experiment inspired by a historical artifact: two Civil War bullets that collided mid-air. This rare occurrence challenges our understanding of ballistics and probability, and we’re going to attempt to recreate it. Let’s embark on this journey together!
Our story begins at the American Museum of Natural History, where a display features two bullets that collided during the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. These bullets met nose to nose, perfectly transferring their momentum and coming to a complete stop. This remarkable event has intrigued many, prompting attempts to replicate it, though none have succeeded—until now, perhaps.
Recreating this phenomenon requires precision and careful planning. The goal is to fire two bullets from opposite directions and have them collide perfectly. This involves overcoming numerous challenges, including aligning the guns, timing the shots, and ensuring safety throughout the process.
Our team consists of experts in electronics, mechanical design, and ammunition reloading. We chose the .45 Long Colt cartridge for its straightforward design and resemblance to Civil War-era bullets. The experiment site is a bowl-shaped area, ensuring any missed shots are safely absorbed by the ground.
To achieve precise timing, we replaced the mechanical trigger system with an electrical one, allowing us to control the “lock time”—the interval between pulling the trigger and the primer being struck. This modification is crucial for synchronizing the shots.
With the engineering complete, we focused on developing a detailed safety procedure. We tested each gun independently, aligning them using a laser to ensure the bullets would meet at the same point in space. After numerous adjustments and tests, we were ready for the first shot.
Our initial attempts resulted in spectacular explosions, but not the desired fusion of bullets. By analyzing each shot and adjusting variables, we discovered that longer cartridges improved our chances. Eventually, we achieved near-perfect collisions, with fragments defining a plane of fragmentation.
Using a high-speed camera, we captured the collisions in stunning detail. The most dramatic results came from firing full metal jacket bullets, which almost fused together. Despite our success, we realized that our lead differed from that used in the Civil War, affecting the outcome.
While we couldn’t perfectly replicate the historical artifact, this experiment has opened new avenues for exploration. We plan to continue refining our methods and materials in future attempts. This project was made possible by the support of our community, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to share this journey with you.
Thank you for joining us on this adventure. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the complexities of ballistics and the innovative solutions required to tackle such a challenging experiment. Stay curious, and keep getting Smarter Every Day!
Join a hands-on workshop where you’ll use computer simulations to model the collision of two bullets. Experiment with different variables such as bullet speed, angle, and material to understand the complexities of achieving a mid-air collision. This will help you grasp the physics and probability involved in the “impossible shot.”
Work in teams to design a mechanism that can precisely align and fire projectiles to collide mid-air. Use principles of mechanical design and electronics to create a prototype. Present your design to the class, explaining the engineering challenges and solutions you developed.
Participate in a group discussion analyzing the historical context of the Civil War bullets collision. Explore the significance of this event and its impact on our understanding of ballistics. Discuss how historical artifacts can inspire modern scientific experiments.
Engage in a session on high-speed photography techniques. Learn how to capture fast-moving objects in detail and apply these skills to document your own experiments. Analyze the footage to gain insights into the dynamics of bullet collisions.
Collaborate with peers to develop a comprehensive safety protocol for conducting high-risk experiments. Focus on risk assessment, emergency procedures, and safety equipment. Present your protocol and discuss its importance in experimental physics and engineering.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Three, two, one. Fire! (BANG!) Hey, it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. I am at the American Museum of Natural History, a Smithsonian Museum. This is something I saw ten years ago that changed the way I think about bullets, ballistics, and probability. It’s two bullets from the Civil War that met nose to nose. Check this out. It’s poorly lit, so I’m going to turn my phone light on here.
I don’t know if you can see this. These two mini ball bullets met nose to nose. The plaque here says it happened in Fredericksburg in December 1862. Look at that—two perfectly aligned bullets. The interesting thing is this is not a glancing blow; there was total momentum transfer between the two. You have a bullet going one direction and another going the opposite direction, and they hit and stop perfectly. I’ve seen many attempts to reproduce this, but they all fail. I’m going to try this today. It’s going to take a little engineering, but let’s give it a shot.
[Intro music, electric guitar riff] I’ve had some internal conflict about doing this video because internet videos have become sensational and spectacular. The moment I visualized a bullet hitting another bullet, I thought about all the camera angles. I want to do this in an intelligent, respectful way, not just to win the internet. I want to see this and take you along with me.
We need to think about the safety side of this. That being said, please never attempt this. I worked for 15 years as a missile flight test engineer, and I had mentors who guided me through safety processes. I made mistakes, and they corrected me. I’m not just some guy trying to do a complicated thing; I’ve done far more complicated things with larger groups of people safely. The way we did that is through intellectual humility.
If we’re going to hit a bullet with another bullet, we need guns. We have two empty guns. I have to aim one gun so that a bullet goes right here in the middle, and I have to point another gun from the opposite side. The problem is that I would be in the firing path of the other gun.
Let’s say we figure out how to hold the guns; we have to think about other things. If we load one gun, how do we load the other one safely? How do we pull the triggers? Once we do, we have all these mechanical inconsistencies. These things are not repeatable in terms of timing, which means those bullets might not meet right where we lined up the high-speed camera.
There were four of us involved in the design of this whole thing. First, my buddy Ernie, who is excellent at electronics design. Then there’s Jeremy Fielding, a fantastic mechanical designer. My buddy David, who reloads ammunition as a hobby, was also involved. We slowly worked on this project in the background for years.
We decided on the .45 Long Colt cartridge for this experiment. It’s a straight wall cartridge, easy to design around, and looks old, similar to a Civil War bullet.
This is the spot we’ve chosen for many reasons. First, it’s a bowl shape, so if the bullet misses, it will go into the dirt. We established a center point for our setup, and once we got that in position, it was time to grab the gun.
These are the simplest guns we could make. They are very special, and we’ll talk about that in a minute. But first, we have to bolt them to the setup.
Now, let’s take a second to look at how a normal gun works. With a mechanical firearm, you have something called lock time. I have the high-speed camera set up, and I’m going to get a shot of it when it happens.
You’ll notice that it takes time for the spring to accelerate the hammer towards the primer. That’s called the “lock time.” From the moment you pull the trigger to the moment the primer is struck, that’s the lock time. Everything after that is the “bullet dwell time.”
In our case, we can’t control the dwell time, but we can control the lock time by replacing the mechanical trigger system with an electrical trigger system.
This is how this setup works. We have a barrel and a breach where the bullet goes. We have a positive and negative side, and the whole thing is grounded.
How do we load a bullet and then load another bullet without being downstream of the first bullet? We designed a system to block the first gun while loading the second one.
The engineering is done, and now we need to focus on procedures, which are extremely important. I created a checklist detailing how everything should be done safely.
At this point, I knew it was crucial to get other experienced individuals involved to critique what I’ve done to ensure safety.
We started off by testing each gun independently to make sure all the hardware worked and our checklist ran smoothly. Our idea was to shoot at a piece of foam board and align both guns to the same point in space.
Once we looked at the holes, we realized they were a little bit off, so we got a laser to make some adjustments. We decided to move one gun so that the holes would align and the bullets would hopefully intercept.
It took years to get to this moment.
We started our first shot, verifying there was no voltage. Our idea was to shoot and see if we could get the bullets to collide.
We felt fragments and were excited to see the results. The bullets exploded, which was amazing, but that wasn’t our goal. We wanted to fuse them together like the Civil War bullets in the museum.
We decided to zoom in and try to understand the phenomenon better. We moved the slow-motion camera closer and adjusted the exposure time and frame rate.
We had a misfire, but we used our misfire procedures immediately. We continued to analyze our shots, looking at every variable we could find.
Eventually, we figured out that the longer cartridges worked better, and we started getting some hits.
One of the most beautiful things about these intercepts is when the bullets collide. Depending on where the noses are, the fragments will define a plane of fragmentation.
Now we get to play with the high-speed camera view and see what happens when we rotate it.
The last shot you saw was a hollow point bullet, which exploded in a dramatic way. We mostly fired normal lead bullets, but something incredible happened when we fired full metal jacket bullets against each other.
We were excited to see the results and found that the bullets almost fused together.
We realized that our lead was not the same type used in the Civil War, so we decided to load slower bullets.
After several attempts, we found that we could not make these bullets fuse together with the lead we had.
I want to thank everyone who supports me on Patreon. It takes years to do projects like this, and I’m grateful for your support.
This is not over; we have ideas for the future. Thank you for watching, and I’m grateful that you’re here. You’re getting Smarter Every Day. Have a good one. Bye.
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This version removes any explicit language and maintains a respectful tone throughout.
Physics – The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. – In our physics class, we explored the fundamental forces that govern the universe.
Engineering – The application of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items. – The engineering team worked tirelessly to develop a more efficient solar panel.
Ballistics – The science of the motion of projectiles in flight. – Understanding ballistics is crucial for designing missiles with precise targeting capabilities.
Momentum – The quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity. – The momentum of the car increased as it accelerated down the hill.
Probability – The measure of the likelihood that an event will occur. – In quantum mechanics, the probability of finding an electron in a specific region is determined by its wave function.
Mechanics – The branch of physics dealing with the motion of objects and the forces that affect them. – Classical mechanics provides the foundation for understanding how objects move under the influence of forces.
Cartridges – Pre-packaged units containing a projectile, propellant, and primer, used in firearms. – The engineering students studied the design of cartridges to improve the efficiency of ammunition.
Collisions – Events where two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. – The study of collisions in physics helps us understand how energy and momentum are conserved in isolated systems.
Experiments – Scientific procedures undertaken to test a hypothesis or demonstrate a known fact. – The laboratory experiments allowed students to observe the principles of thermodynamics in action.
Safety – The condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury. – Safety protocols in the engineering lab ensure that all experiments are conducted without risk to the students.
