Is it possible to shoot a firearm in space

In science fiction films, you can often see battles in outer space. Heroes arrange shootouts with laser pistols, plasma guns and other exotic weapons. What about a regular firearm? What happens if you shoot in space with a modern pistol or rifle? Is it possible at all and how effective will such shooting be?

It would be most logical to assume that firearms will not work in space at all by definition. After all, to ignite something, oxygen is needed, which is not there. Yes, firing a flintlock gun in a vacuum will not work, but modern weapons use a slightly different principle.

The capsule of the cartridges used now has its own oxidizer. Even without access to oxygen, he is able to ignite the powder in the sleeve, the gases of which will push the bullet out of the barrel. In this case, the shot will be absolutely silent, since sound will not propagate in an airless space. Yes, we hear explosions and shots in space in movies and video games, but these are just special effects that have nothing to do with reality.

Also, the smoke from the shot will behave quite differently than on Earth. It will not fly out of the trunk, but will gather at its end into a neat ball. Gases will behave in space in the same way as water, which takes the shape of a ball and does not spread. This unusual property of simple substances can be seen in the videos that astronauts constantly shoot on the ISS.

Since there is no air resistance in space, the conditions for the bullet to fly will be just perfect. She will leave the barrel of the weapon and will move at a constant speed without slowing down. It will stop only if it hits some kind of space object. If a sufficiently massive cosmic body with its own gravity meets on the way, then the bullet will begin to move in its orbit, turning into a small satellite.

One would assume that the bullet, without encountering obstacles, would move indefinitely. Will it be able to leave the limits of the universe after light years? Scientists claim that this is impossible. The fact is that the universe is constantly expanding at a speed of 50 to 100 km/s. The speed of the bullet will not exceed 1422 m / s, and this is clearly not enough.

We figured out the mechanism of the shot and the flight of the bullet. But what happens at the moment of the shot with the man and his weapon? Everyone knows that on Earth the shooter experiences recoil. The more powerful the weapon, the more it pushes the shooter back. It will be the same in space, but the absence of gravity will greatly enhance this effect.

The recoil from the shot will push the shooter very hard, which will begin to rotate in space until an obstacle stops him. This can be avoided if you hold on tightly to a large object, for example, the handrail of a spaceship.

With weapons, too, not everything is so simple. Pistols, rifles and submachine guns made of metal will become very hot under the influence of solar radiation. This may well cause the cartridges in the magazine and barrel to ignite. In this case, the weapon will simply explode by itself, most likely injuring the owner, tearing the suit and thereby killing him. And what will happen to the corpse later, we already know well.

If the weapon is in the shade, then this will also not save it from failure. Extremely low temperatures, for which terrestrial weapon steels are not designed, can make the mechanism and barrel fragile. At least from the incredible cold, the moving parts will stick together and the shot will be impossible.

From all this, we can conclude that shooting from conventional firearms in outer space is not the best idea. Perhaps, for these purposes, special samples will be created someday, taking into account the specifics of the application. But we still hope that this will never happen, because space should be peaceful.