Physics questions

Question

a machine gun, mass of 35kg fires 50gram bullets, with a muzzle velocity of 750m/s at the rate of 300 rounds per minute. What is the average force exerted on the machine gun mount?

Answer 1

Hello Jen;

To find the average force exerted on the machine gun mount, we need to calculate the change in momentum per unit time.

Given:

Mass of the machine gun (m_gun) = 35 kg

Mass of each bullet (m_bullet) = 50 grams = 0.05 kg

Muzzle velocity (v) = 750 m/s

Rate of fire (r) = 300 rounds/min = 5 rounds/s

First, let's calculate the momentum of each bullet:

P_bullet = m_bullet * v

P_bullet = 0.05 kg * 750 m/s = 37.5 kg m/s

Δp = p_bullet * r

(F_avg) = Δp / t

37.5 kg m/s x 5 rounds/s = F_avg ≈ 187.5 N