A Gun Shot In Space, How Does It Behave

A gun shot in space does not have the same effect as it does on Earth, a law that applies to nearly every other object and their behavior in general. However, what does happen when a gun is actually shot in space? A recent video by Michael Steven from Vsauce gives the answer to this very question.  The clip shows what happens when a gun is shot within the moon or in intergalactic space, or when a water gun is squirted at the sun. According to Stevens, the behavior of a gunshot depends on where or at what the gun is fired.

As per the video, if you fire a gun shot in the moon, it will come and hit you from the back. A less gravitational pull and smaller size of the Moon, as compared to the Earth, means that an object orbiting the satellite does not have to go at a high velocity to travel all around its surface. Therefore, experimenting with a cannonball shot on the lunar surface may not be the best idea, unless you want to get hit by your own cannon, in stealth mode.

Firing a gun in the intergalactic space would mean that the shot would forever remain a solitary object travelling through space, without ever having contact with another or anything else. The reason for such a lonesome state is because the Universe it gradually expanding, which means that galaxies around intergalactic space are going away farther at a speed of about 200 kilometers per second. The bullet, whereas, can only reach a speed of 1 kilometer per second, so it can never reach any galaxy.

However, what would happen, if you take a water gun and squirt it at the Sun? Well, our star is generated by the fusion of hydrogen nuclei which means if you squirt water, it will just burn bigger and brighter at an accelerated rate which will also shorten its life span. Watch the video to know more about the effect of a squirt gun on the Sun, and the behavior of a gunshot in space in general.