It happens late at night, you're in your cosy bed and desperately counting sheep. Bizarre questions pop into your head, perhaps you're puzzled by the question what would happen if I shot a gun in space?
Imagine yourself floating somewhere far away in space alone in the vacuum between distant stars. There are only you and your gun for thousands of miles. Perhaps you're racking your brain trying to figure out how you got there or perhaps you just fire that gun of yours but is it safe? Is it even possible?
#1. Fires can't burn in space
Despite the fact that fires can't burn in space because there's no oxygen there. You can easily shoot your gun. The trick here is that a modern firearm has its own oxidizer. That's a special chemical that triggers the gunpowder explosion. This way no atmospheric oxygen is needed.
#2. Sound waves can't travel in space
While the process of shooting a gun is the same on earth and in space. The results will be quite different. As you pull the trigger, you expect to hear the blast of the gunshot that makes sense but only if you're on the surface of Earth. Unfortunately or fortunately there is no sound in space. Sound waves can't travel in a vacuum. Thus there will be no audible indication that the gun has fired kind of a built-in gun silencer.
#3. Visual
Another difference will be visual. The trail of smoke after you fire the gun will have a curious shape. It will appear as if a sphere of smoke is expanding from the barrel tip.
#4. Recoil process - Newton's third law
Now let's get down to even more interesting stuff when somebody fires a bullet on earth there's always a recoil coming from the gun, rifle or any other weapon. The reason for this was formulated by Newton. His third law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So, when you use a gun, the bullet goes forward while you are moved in the opposite direction, backwards. Those people who are inexperienced in shooting can even get injured by this kickback. This is all well and good when your feet are firmly placed on the ground as gravity doesn't let you go anywhere but in space, you won't have this force keeping you in place. As a result, as soon as you fire the bullet, you'll start your eternal journey in the opposite direction. The only consolation will be that you being much larger than the bullet will have a much slower speed about one inch per second. As for the bullet itself, just like you, it will move forever unless it comes across something that will stop it. Moving in a vacuum doesn't create the friction that would otherwise change the course of the bullet or slow it down.
#5. Universe expansion
Another thing is that the universe is expanding at a speed of about 44 miles per second. The bullet would simply be unable to catch up with any amounts of mass that would be able to slow it down and that's according to astronomer Matija Cuk, PhD. On the other hand, if the universe weren't expanding during its journey, the bullet would encounter rare masses which would eventually stop it about 10 million light years later.
#6. A minuscule chance that you'll shoot yourself
The deadliest consequences of fire on a gun in space is the minuscule chance that you'll shoot yourself. Of course, we don't mean that you look like a fool who would accidentally fire a bullet in the wrong direction. The problem here is a bit more twisted. In a one-in-a-million case, while shooting you may align your gun in such a way that the bullet will fall under the influence of the gravitational force of the nearest planet. In such a scenario it would move around the planet by orbiting it with ever-increasing speed. It would soon reach a speed of 37 miles per hour. Eventually if you didn't move away from the place where you shot the gun, your own bullet would hit you in the back. While many conditions must coincide precisely for this to happen. It is not an absolutely impossible scenario.
Despite the potential uselessness of a gun in space, Soviet astronauts didn't go on their mission without one. What's more they didn't have an ordinary pistol but a strange three barreled shotgun that had a machete instead of a rifle butt and if you think they just wanted to feel protected against hostile aliens, think again, this story goes back to 1965 when Soviet cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov came up with an idea that later became the TP-82 project. Not long before that, on March 18 1965, he conducted the first spacewalk in the history of humankind and walked in open space for 12 minutes. It happened during the Vostok 2 mission. In fact, his stroll was pretty perilous because he had serious problems with his spacesuit. Due to technical problems, it unexpectedly inflated and became too stiff in the vacuum of space. As a result, the astronaut became too big to fit in the entrance of his capsule. Only after Leonov broke protocol and let some air out of his suit did he manage to enter the capsule. By that time he was already suffering from a lack of oxygen. Anyway, the mission continued until it was time for Aleksey Leonov and his commander Pavel Belyayev to head for Earth. That's when they experienced more technical problems. Their automatic landing system broke down. As a result, they had to use the manual controls to land. When they were entering the Earth's atmosphere, their spacecraft spun out of control. Luckily the astronauts were able to regain command and land with the use of a parachute. Originally they had intended to land in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, due to the technical problems, they ended up in the Ural Mountains. They found themselves in dense forests more than 100 miles away from civilization. These woods were full of dangerous wildlife such as wolves and bears. The astronauts had nothing to protect themselves with the exception of a pistol. One for the both of them! At the same time, if they were to encounter a wild bear weighing as much as 600 pounds, such a weapon would only leave it wounded. This would enrage the animal even more. Luckily Leonov and Belyayev only had to stay in the wilderness for one day and they had no dangerous encounters. The next day a rescue party found them and they were evacuated by helicopter.
However, this accident greatly affected Leonov which is why he suggested creating a weapon that would help astronauts survive after landing if something went wrong. This unique gun was to become a part of a survival kit together with waterproof watches, gloves, matches, batteries and other gadgets. This project was only approved in 1981 and while lips were kept sealed about the existence of this weapon it was actually widely known about. The unusual gun had three barrels in a detachable buttstock. This buttstock was, in fact, a machete with a canvas sheath. This pistol could be used for hunting as well as in defence against predators. On top of that, it would produce audible and visual distress signals. Stranded astronauts could even use it in cold winter conditions. As for the machete, with its help, people could clear a path, chop wood and even build some form of shelter.
In any case, this is a part of history now and while the policy of "better safe than sorry" used to be pretty popular. Nowadays astronauts don't take the TP-82 onboard a spacecraft. They have stated that they don't feel psychologically comfortable having such a powerful weapon with them.
Hopefully we've managed to explain all the consequences of firing a gun in space. If you have any other burning questions that won't stop bothering you in the middle of the night, write them down in the comments below and remember to give an upvote and resteem this article.
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