Wednesday, April 12, 2006

projectile

Quick Definition: missile; fired or thrown object (such as stone or bullet)
projectile (prə-jĕk'təl, -tīl') pronunciation
n.
  1. A fired, thrown, or otherwise propelled object, such as a bullet, having no capacity for self-propulsion.
  2. A self-propelled missile, such as a rocket.
adj.
  1. Capable of being impelled or hurled forward.
  2. Driving forward; impelling: a projectile force.
  3. Zoology. Capable of being thrust outward; protrusile.

[New Latin proiectile, neuter of prōiectilis, that can be thrown, from Latin prōiectus, past participle of prōicere, to throw out. See project.]






A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

projectile
n.

The final arbiter in international disputes. Formerly these disputes were settled by physical contact of the disputants, with such simple arguments as the rudimentary logic of the times could supply -- the sword, the spear, and so forth. With the growth of prudence in military affairs the projectile came more and more into favor, and is now held in high esteem by the most courageous. Its capital defect is that it requires personal attendance at the point of propulsion.





Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun projectile has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a weapon that is thrown or projected
Synonym: missile

The adjective projectile has one meaning:

Meaning #1: impelling or impelled forward





projectile

A projectile is any object sent through space by the application of a force. In a general sense, even a football or baseball may be considered a projectile, but in practice most projectiles are designed as weapons.

Motive force

Arrows, darts, spears, and similar weapons are fired using pure mechanical force applied by another solid object; conversely, other weapons use the compression or expansion of gases as their motive force.

Blowguns and pneumatic rifles use compressed gases, while most other guns and firearms utilize expanding gases liberated by sudden chemical reactions. Light gas guns use a combination of these mechanisms.

Railguns provide a constant acceleration along the entire length of the device, greatly increasing the muzzle velocity.

Some projectiles provide propulsion during (part of) the flight by means of a rocket engine or jet engine. In military terminology, a rocket is unguided, while a missile is guided. Note the two meanings of rocket: an ICBM is a missile with rocket engines.

Blunt or sharp

Although blowguns use small darts, most types of guns and firearms hurl bullets, pellets, or shot made of a metal, usually lead, that are designed to deform and fragment inside a target, causing significant damage. Items like arrows, hand darts, and spears are generally tipped with sharp metallic or lithic artifacts called projectile points that allow them to more easily penetrate a target, although some types of arrows used for hunting are designed to stun or kill through shock rather than to penetrate.

Projectiles designed to be non-lethal, for example for use against riots, include rubber bullets and flexible baton rounds.

Kinetic projectiles

Some projectiles do not contain an explosive charge (as opposed to projectiles with explosive charge, such as shells). They are termed kinetic projectile, kinetic energy weapon or kinetic penetrator. The classic kinetic energy weapon is the bullet. Among projectiles which do not contain explosives are railguns, mass drivers, and kinetic energy penetrators, in addition to smaller weapons such as bullets. All of these weapons work by attaining a high muzzle velocity (hypervelocity), and collide with their objective, releasing kinetic energy.

Some kinetic weapons for targeting objects in spaceflight are anti-satellite weapons and anti-ballistic missiles. Since they need to attain a high velocity anyway, they can destroy their target with their released kinetic energy alone; high explosive is not strictly necessary. Compare the energy of TNT, 4.6 MJ/kg, to the energy of a kinetic kill vehicle with a closing speed of 10 km/s, which is 50 MJ/kg. This saves costly weight and there is no detonation to be done at the right time, but on the other hand it requires a more accurate hit.

With regard to anti-missile weapons, the Arrow missile and MIM-104 Patriot have explosives, but of the KEI, LEAP, and THAAD being developed, none has (see Missile Defense Agency).

See also Hypervelocity terminal ballistics, Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV).

For an idea for kinetic projectiles from Earth orbit, see kinetic bombardment. For a fictional kinetic weapon, see Relativistic kill vehicle.

Miscellaneous

Ballistics analyses the projectile trajectory, the forces acting upon the projectile, and the impact that a projectile has on a target. A guided missile is not called a projectile.

An explosion, whether or not by a weapon, causes the debris to act as multiple high velocity projectiles. An explosive weapon, or device may also be designed to produce many high velocity projectiles by the break-up of its casing, these are correctly termed fragments.

The term projectile also refers to weapons or any other objects thrown, shot or otherwise directed to enemies in video games or computer games.

See also

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)





Translations for: Projectile

Nederlands (Dutch)
projectiel

Franais (French)
projectile

Deutsch (German)
n. - Projektil, Geschoss
adj. - Trieb...

ή (Greek)
n. ή

Italiano (Italian)
proiettile

Portugus (Portuguese)
n. - projtil (m)

Русский (Russian)
снаряд, налетающая частица

Espaol (Spanish)
n. - proyectil
adj. - proyectante, arrojadizo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - projektil

中国话 (Simplified Chinese)
n. - 发射体, 抛射物
adj. - 发射的, 投射的

中國話 (Traditional Chinese)
n. - 發射體, 拋射物
adj. - 發射的, 投射的

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 投射する, 突き出せる
n. - 投射物, 発射物

العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) قذيفه, دافع, قاذف

עברית (Hebrew)‬
n. - ‮טיל, קליע‬
adj. - ‮בר-שיגור, ניתן לשיגור‬

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# posted by Mike : 9:00 AM
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