During the imperial war period, a French pilot encountered a bizarre situation. While flying at an altitude of 2 kilometers, he noticed a small object moving right in front of him. Thinking it was some kind of insect, he reached out to grab it, only to be astonished to find… a bullet from the German army!
Catching a Bullet with Bare Hands
At first glance, you might think this is absurd and hard to believe, yet it is entirely possible.
The bullet gradually loses speed; by the end of its flight path, its velocity is only about 40 m/s (Photo: Purdue)
This is because a bullet does not always travel at its initial speed of 800-900 m/s. Air resistance causes it to decelerate, and when it reaches its operational limit (at the end of its trajectory), it can only fly at 40 m/s. Interestingly, the aircraft also flies at that speed.
Thus, it is conceivable that the bullet and the plane are moving in the same direction and have equal speed. At that moment, to the pilot, the bullet would appear to be stationary or moving only slightly. Therefore, it would not be particularly difficult to catch the bullet by hand, especially since he was wearing gloves (as the bullet would have heated up significantly while moving through the air).
