Can You Fire A Gun In Space

In addition to there being no sound in space there is also no oxygen which is required to create and sustain any kind of fire.

Can you fire a gun in space. Direct sunlight might make the gun hot enough for the ammunition to explode spontaneously whereas a gun kept in the shade would eventually become so cold that the primer in the firing cap might not go. No atmospheric oxygen required. Fires can t burn in the oxygen free vacuum of space but guns can shoot. What about firing a gun out in the middle of space.

Modern ammunition contains its own oxidizer a chemical that will trigger the. The r 23m kartech cannon was. Bullets carry their own oxidising agent in the explosive of the cartridge which is sealed anyway so there s no need for atmospheric oxygen to ignite the propellant. Without the stabilising effect of the atmosphere the wide temperature variations in space might be a problem though.

In the worst case scenario if the gun was fired from near the astronaut s head the astronaut might end up rotating about once every 3 minutes which could be easily corrected by the thrusters the. The necessary oxidizer required to ignite the gunpowder is also self contained which means there is no reason for a gun to not fire in space. The cartridge does not allow the air to enter when properly packed hence the chance of premature popping out of the bullet cartridge in space is also out the window. Well it would simply drift into the blackness forever alone while the galaxies around it sped further away.

Those galaxies are travelling at around 200km s 124 miles sec as the universe expands whereas a travelling bullet can reach speeds of only 1km s 0 62 mile sec. Such films could even have some basis in fact because shooting a gun in space would certainly work though not quite like it does on earth.