Ballistics

Ballistics is the study of how bullets move through the air and what happens when they reach their target. Imagine throwing a ball to your friend, the way the ball moves through the air and where it lands is a bit like ballistics.

When a gun fires a bullet, something called gunpowder explodes inside the gun and pushes the bullet out the end of the barrel. Once the bullet leaves the gun, it travels through the air until it hits something.

The way bullets travel when they are fired is affected by things like the shape of the bullet and how fast it's moving. Imagine if you try to throw a flat piece of paper and a ball of paper at your friend. The ball will travel farther and faster than the flat piece of paper. The same is true for bullets - if they are shaped a certain way and are moving fast, they can go really far and do a lot of damage when they hit their target.

When a bullet hits a target, it can do different things depending on what it's made of and how fast it's going. Sometimes it can go straight through the target, like a straw going through a piece of paper. Other times it can break the target apart or make a big hole in it.

So, ballistics is all about understanding how bullets move and what happens when they hit something. It's important for things like hunting and solving crimes, because scientists can use the information they've learned about ballistics to figure out where a bullet came from and how it got to where it did.