OK while I would like to believe that this Jihadi blew himself up the slow motion video makes it pretty obvious that he did not.

How is it that I come to this conclusion? Basic physics, watch the video carefully, and pay attention to the direction of the blast. Newton’s second law covers this pretty well, a = Fnet / m, or The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

According to Newton the bast should have been traveling away from the Jihadi not towards him, in other words basic physics says this guy was on the receiving end of a round, not one that went off prematurely.

I’m guessing that this is an unintended conformation that something like the 40-millimeter SCORPION – “for Self Correcting Projectile for Infantry Operation” grenade has made it in theater in Iraq.

doriangrey on August 22, 2007 at 12:03 PM

EWTHeckman on August 22, 2007 at 12:31 PM

you’ll notice that he’s mostly behind a large rock, piece of concrete, or rock pile. That’s what limited most of the effect to right around where the jihadi was located.

That wouldn’t change the basic physics involved though. Newton’s first and third laws still come into play.

I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The force of the blast as stated in Newtons second law

II. The relationship between an object’s mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.

Would be directed away from the greatest mass in it’s closest proximity, that would be the ground. His first law comes into play at this point.

I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

What you very clearly do not see is this happening in the video, furthermore Newtons third law would show itself

III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

“if” the blast were being redirected by an equal or greater mass acting on the blast. In such a case what physics dictate happen would be a nearly spherical blast with a conical trail in the direction of greatest acceleration, which would be away from the Jihadist.

However since what you do see is a blast traveling towards the Jihadist instead of away from him it becomes quite clear that the only way this could happen is an invocation of Newtons first law.

I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

In other words in order for the blast to be traveling towards the Jihadist an external force of substantially greater force had to be acting on the outgoing round fired by the Jihadist.

Considering the rate at which the Jihadist was firing his rounds it isn’t even much of a coincidence that the incoming round arrived just as he was firing a round.

What I find interesting is that the incoming round was obviously an proximity round. Well that and that it looks as if it was the proximity to the outgoing round that triggered the proximity detonation.

Not only did the incoming round have a far greater velocity than the outgoing round it clearly was of a far greater kinetic dispersion as well. 155mm Excalibur round perhaps?

doriangrey on August 22, 2007 at 1:18 PM