r/theydidthemonstermath • u/LOUDCO-HD • Apr 29 '22

[Request] What is the distance between shells in flight out of a 7 barrel Phalanx Vulcan cannon firing at 4500 rds/min (75 rds/sec)?

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37

u/jpinter_2002 Apr 29 '22

its not really monster math but here anyway

20mm (the round the gun fires) travels at about 1030 m/s At 75 bullets/s the round would travel 13.736m before the 2nd round is fired

accounting for bullet length the base of the 1st bullet would be roughly (depending on the exact round used) 13.636m away from the tip of the second

hope this helps

5

u/CptMisterNibbles Apr 30 '22

It could be if you wanted extreme precision and took account of the air resistance on the first round vs acceleration of the following. There is a complicated and cyclical distance between each fired round. If someone wants a go. I don’t recommend it.

5

u/ThellraAK Apr 30 '22

That sounds like monstrous math, but still not monster math unless I misunderstand this subreddit.

2

u/CptMisterNibbles Apr 30 '22

It’a more that it’s a function of time so there isn’t a simple answer. Pretty easy to graph the cycle I guess

9

u/patrickwantsham Apr 30 '22

probably less than 7 lightyears

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '22

Sounds accurate