Ballistics

For other uses, see Ballistics (disambiguation).

Ballistics (gr. βάλλειν ('ba'llein'), "throw") is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.

A ballistic body is a body which is free to move, behave, and be modified in appearance, contour, or texture by ambient conditions, substances, or forces, as by the pressure of gases in a gun, by rifling in a barrel, by gravity, by temperature, or by air particles. A ballistic missile is a missile only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight, whose course is subsequently governed by the laws of classical mechanics.

Gun ballistics

Gun ballistics is the study of projectiles from the time of shooting to the time of impact with the target. Gun ballistics is often broken down into the following four categories, which contain detailed information on each category:

• Internal ballistics, (sometimes called interior ballistics) the study of the processes originally accelerating the projectile, for example the passage of a bullet through the barrel of a rifle.
• Transition ballistics, (sometimes called intermediate ballistics) the study of the projectile's behavior when it leaves the barrel and the pressure behind the projectile is equalized.
• External ballistics, (sometimes called exterior ballistics) the study of the passage of the projectile through a medium, most commonly earth's atmosphere.
• Terminal ballistics, the study of the interaction of a projectile with its target, whether that be flesh (for a hunting bullet), steel (for an anti-tank round), or even furnace slag (for an industrial slag disruptor).

Forensic ballistics

Forensic ballistics involves analysis of bullets and bullet impacts to determine information of use to a court or other part of a legal system. Separately from ballistics information, firearm and tool mark examinations ("ballistic fingerprinting") involve analysing firearm, ammunition, and tool mark evidence in order to establish whether a certain firearm or tool was used in the commission of a crime.

See also

• Ballistic conduction (related to electron transport)
• Gunshot residue
• Hydrostatic shock
• Physics of firearms
• Trajectory
• Vaporific Effect
• Gunshot injury
• Stopping Power
• Peter Bielkowicz
• Microscopes and ballistics
• L.T.E. Thompson

External links

• Ballistic Trajectories by Jeff Bryant, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project.
• http://ballistics.org/ International Ballistics Society