Why you can’t shoot a gun underwater

29.01.2016 12:30

A physicist pulled the trigger of a gun on himself and lived to tell about it - all in the name of TV.

Andreas Wahl wanted to see what happens when a gun is shot off underwater and used himself as the test subject.

Although the gun worked just like it would on the surface, the bullet sank before hitting the halfway point due to the intense resistance in the water.

‘Shot coming’ Wahl says staring down at the rifle in a video documenting his death defying feat.

The video shows Wahl wading in a pool with an assault rifle pointed right at him.

A long rope was attached to the trigger that he pulled after counting down from three.

The bullet burst out of the barrel with the same power it would if it was above the water and since the camera is underwater, viewers heard the same loud boom.

Water bubbles followed behind the bullet as it sped towards Wahl, but momentum was lost before it reached the halfway point and gracefully sunk to the bottom.

'It's harder to create movement in water than in air, because water molecules are closer together than air molecules', according to Wahl's YouTube video.

Wahl dived under the water and brought the bullet back up to the surface, holding it high above his head like a trophy.

This isn't the first death defying experiment Wahl has done.

He has soaked himself in water before trying to roast himself in a fire.

And another one where he was trying to prove the laws of physics by falling from a great height using a weight and a thin piece of rope.

But even though Wahl probably did his homework about shooting a gun off in the water, his face showed he was more than revealed the bullet sank.

But the gun isn't the reason Wahl is still alive, it's the bullet.

'Guns work underwater the same way they work above water', according to Science Channel’s #1 series Outrageous Acts of Science.

The gun powder inside of the bullet is waterproof and the firing pin collides with the powder causing the gun to fire.

Once the gun is fired, all of the energy produces hot gases that launch the bullet out of the firearm.

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3419978/Why-t-shoot-gun-underwater-Watch-researcher-fire-weapon-terrifying-physics-experiment.html?ito=social-facebook)