Ballistics
Ballistics is the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, aerial bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and hurling 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.
Firearm ballistics information is used in forensic science.
Ballistics is sometimes subdivided into:
- Interior ballistics, the study of the processes originally accelerating the projectile, for example the passage of a bullet through the barrel of a rifle;
- Exterior ballistics, the study of the passage of the projectile through space or the air; and
- 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).
See also:
- physics of firearms for an elementary introduction
- gun, cartridge and bullet
