Why does a gun recoil backward when it is fired?
The bullet pushes forward, and the gun experiences an equal and opposite backward force
By Newton’s third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When the gun fires, the expanding gases push the bullet forward with a large force. At the same instant the bullet (and the gases) push the gun backward with an equal and opposite force. This backward push is what we feel as recoil.
The gun’s weight alone cannot make it move backward; heavy objects actually recoil less, not more. The trigger only releases the mechanism, it does not push the gun back. Air resistance opposes motion once the gun is already moving, so it cannot be the cause of the recoil starting.
Hence, the answer is The bullet pushes forward, and the gun experiences an equal and opposite backward force.
Similar Questions
A ball is released from rest at the top of an inclined smooth plane of length 5 cm. After reaching the bottom it travels horizontally on a smooth surface. How much distance will it travel horizontally? (Neglect the frictional forces as both the plane and surface are smooth)
When you shake a tree, fruits fall because of ________.
According to the Newton’s Third Law of Motion, what happens to a stationary rowing boat when a sailor jumps forward from it?
A 6 kg body is subjected to a force that brings it from rest to a velocity of 18 m/s in 3 seconds. What is the value of the force?
Which scenario best demonstrates the first law of motion as stated by Newton regarding an object’s tendency to maintain its state of at rest or uniform motion?
Which situation does NOT correctly illustrate an action-reaction pair as per Newton's third law?
If a 2 kg ball initially at rest is pushed with a force of 8 N for 5 seconds, what is its velocity at the end of 5 seconds?
Seat belts in cars are provided to protect passengers during sudden braking or collision because of:
A horse pulls a cart with a force of 500 N. The force experienced by the horse due to the cart is:
What happens to the magnitude of action and reaction forces in Newton’s third law pairs?
Important Questions from Laws of Motion
Which of the following is correct?
I. The mass of an object is a measure of its inertia
II. In an isolated system the total momentum remains conserved
A 20.0 kg block is placed on a smooth horizontal table. A horizontal force of 12.0 Newton is applied to the block. The position of the block at 5.0 sec is
A subway train starts from rest at a station and accelerates at a rate of 3 ms-2 for 10s. It then runs at a constant speed for 20s and decelerates at 5 ms-2 unit it stops at the next station. The distance between the two stations is:
In a desert, a beetle's motion sends fast longitudinal pulses, vL = 150 ms-1, and slower transverse pulses, vS = 50 ms-1, along the sand's surface. The sand scorpion has eight legs; spread roughly in a circle of 5 cm diameter, intercepts the faster longitudinal pulses 4.0 ms earlier than the slower transverse pulse. The pray is located at a distance of:
When we jump out of a boat, the boat moves in the opposite direction. This is due to:
