Are you sure about that? An air rifle shooting supersonic aluminum pellets has considerably less kinetic energy than a .22 LR bullet, because of the weight of the bullet. Some air rifles actually shoot their projectile faster than a .22, but they have like 10x less energy upon impact.

[–] evidences@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm no mathlete but looking up the formula for kinetic energy it's K.E. = 1/2 m v^2 so I'm pretty sure velocity is going to have exponentially greater effect on kinetic energy than mass.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I guess it's because of the huge difference in weight that we see such a difference in kinetic energy from pellet guns, even though velocity has an exponential impact on the energy. A standard pellet weighs under 14 grains, and a .22 LR bullet weighs 40 grains. Thanks for sharing the formula though. I didn't realize how huge of a contribution velocity makes for kinetic energy, and I'll definitely look for a faster rifle whenever I upgrade my air rifle.