do lasers travel faster than bullets ?

[trunolimit]

I was having an argument with a friend that if laser guns where real you wouldn't even see the beam. it travels at the speed of light how could you. you don't see a bullet when its fired from a gun and that is a fraction of the speed of light.

[siraim]

I was having an argument with a friend that if laser guns where real you wouldn't even see the beam. it travels at the speed of light how could you. you don't see a bullet when its fired from a gun and that is a fraction of the speed of light.

Lasers are clearly faster.. bullets fire at what between 1000-6000 feet per second? the speed of light is about 1billion feet per second.. end of discussion? or do we not all agree that lasers fire at the speed of light?

Depending on the guns, the delay in firing the laser may take longer than it would take to simply chamber and fire a round from a conventional gun. Do we take that into account?

[jay_ray]

If the beam was coloured you would see the beam if it was shot and held continuously, but if we are talking about a small single projectile like a bullet from a hand gun then yes it would be impossible for a human to see the single instance. Ask your friend how many photons he sees in an average day.

[tokenuser]

Ask your friend how many photons he sees in an average day.All of them ... otherwise he would be blind.

[cybersuchus]

If the beam was coloured you would see the beam if it was shot and held continuously...

Not necessarily. If the beam was small (and it likely would be), then you still wouldn't see it. Think about a laser pointer. It's shooting a beam of light from one spot to another, but it's so thin, all we see is the little point at the end of whatever it is aimed.

[ryudo]

I am sorry but your friend is a moron.
The only way someone can't know this is either being mentally challenged or from the past..back before we had electricity.

This should not even be a debate on any level.

[scoobydiesel]

Idk someone get me one so i can try it out :D

[darthender]

Am I the only one that noticed that the question asked in the thread title is not the same thing that he and his friend were arguing about?

[jay_ray]

All of them ... otherwise he would be blind.
OK, you got me I goofed. What I meant to say was any single individual photon that he could define as that being a photon, my point being he could not because they are so small moving so fast that you can not see any one photon.
Not necessarily. If the beam was small (and it likely would be), then you still wouldn't see it. Think about a laser pointer. It's shooting a beam of light from one spot to another, but it's so thin, all we see is the little point at the end of whatever it is aimed.
I was thinking of a laser that would come out of a hand gun similar to ones seen in movies or TV. Furthermore a small pinpoint laser would not do a lot of damage to an enemy or a tank/aircraft, wouldn't you want something that would blast a hole through a guy instead of a small dot? Also you can see the laser from a laser pointer given the proper environmental conditions such has fog or smoke.

[masherscf]

It's people who have arguments like this that make me sad for our pubic school system.

[gonzooo]

Speed of light: ~2.998 x 10^8 m/s = 299 800 000 m/s
Speed of a bullet fired from one of the most powerful sniper rifles in the world (Barrett M82): 853 m/s.

You could still see the beam, though, provided there is something to reflect the light in the air for photons of it to bounce their way to your eyes. You're not likely, as far as I can speculate, to get hurt by someone pointing any kind of laser at you for a split second, so they'd probably have to keep it on you for a while, and in the same spot. In any case, a gun and some bullets provide a much better way of killing someone than a laser would, partly because of mobility, I'd assume.

In case you have more arguments like this:

* Lots of guns have muzzle velocities well above the speed of sound (~330 m/s (A number that varies with different conditions; temperature and how far above sea level the sound travels, etc.)), which means you'll hear the gunshot after you've already been hit. Obviously, it's still a good idea to dive in case they missed or they weren't aiming at you the first time around. Just thought I'd settle a future argument. In the case of the Barrett M82, at its maximum range (6800 m) the bullet will arrive approximately 8 seconds after having been fired and you'll "hear" the sound ~12.5 seconds after that, or about 20.5 seconds after the gun being fired.

* How fast something will build up speed in a free fall has no connection whatsoever to its mass.

[tokenuser]

Not necessarily. If the beam was small (and it likely would be), then you still wouldn't see it. Think about a laser pointer. It's shooting a beam of light from one spot to another, but it's so thin, all we see is the little point at the end of whatever it is aimed.The reason you dont see the beam of light is because of a lack of particulate matter in the air for the beam to illuminate on its travels.

Dont you watch spy movies or even CSI where they use the can of compressed air to create a mist that illuminates the laser beams?

[tokenuser]

You're not likely, as far as I can speculate, to get hurt by someone pointing any kind of laser at you for a split second, so they'd probably have to keep it on you for a while, and in the same spot.Depends on the intensity of the laser.

There is a huge difference between a laser pointer and a laser scalpel.

[ryudo]

It's people who have arguments like this that make me sad for our pubic school system.
QFT......

[cucumberboy]

The reason you don't see bullets is not only because of their speed - it's their speed combined with their size and the fact that they aren't brightly colored or anything. There are tracer rounds, which are clearly visible (they are the glowing shots that are used for the sole purpose of showing where the bullets are going) and they are travelling just as fast as regular bullets.

As for the laser goes, I suppose you're talking about Star Wars laser guns (which weren't actually laser) and if there were rifles or pistols or w/e that fired bursts of laser then we would not be able to see the shots themselves unless we were shot in the eye, since lasers are focused light and cannot be seen from a side view.

[trunolimit]

As for the laser goes, I suppose you're talking about Star Wars laser guns (which weren't actually laser) and if there were rifles or pistols or w/e that fired bursts of laser then we would not be able to see the shots themselves unless we were shot in the eye, since lasers are focused light and cannot be seen from a side view.

tru dat

[gm_wil]

I was having an argument with a friend that if laser guns where real you wouldn't even see the beam. it travels at the speed of light how could you. you don't see a bullet when its fired from a gun and that is a fraction of the speed of light.

http://www.gamerevolution.com/images/misc/Image/the-matrix_bullet_time.jpg

When you're ready, it won't matter.

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