Quote:
Originally posted by Conundrum:
Quote:
Originally posted by PANissanX:
[b]
Quote:
Originally posted by Conundrum:
[b]
quote:
Originally posted by PANissanX:
If you fire a bullet at approx 27,000KMPH it will essentially go into orbit and never land.
Wouldn't that mean that you fired the bullet outward (UP) and not parrallel to the ground? Hence like a rocket.[/b]
No, horizontally. Because of the curvature of the earth, as the bullet drops at the normal speed the earth will have curved beneath it. It will continue to fall forever. Sounds crazy, but that's how orbits work.[/b]
Sure that's how orbits work, but it's how you get into orbit that counts. You have to first overcome the friction of the atmosphere and even if you do, orbit has to be maintained by external force or it will degrade and send you burning up in the atmosphere (Mir Space Station).

Isn't this why we still have to use the shuttle? We don't have a horizontal takeoff vehicle YET. The closest that is public is the Space Ship One by that Apple Guy?

Right...at 27,000KMPH the bullet (fired horizontally) would leave our atmosphere and go into orbit. If we had a plane that would go that fast, we could fly horizontaly out of our atmosphere.