Monkey and bullet question?!?

Question

I came across an interesting question the other day...

A hunter is shooting monkeys (brutal I know :[), and he comes across a very smart monkey. The monkey is hanging on a branch with one arm, and he has a trick he uses to avoid getting shot by any hunter, who happens to be standing some point below and far away from the monkey(sort of like a right triangle). Exactly as the hunter pulls the trigger, the monkey lets go of the branch and falls. The question is, should the hunter aim above, below, or at the monkey?

I'm pretty sure you should aim AT the monkey conceptually...but how can I solve this one with math?

Thanks in advance guys.

Answer 1

At the monkey Bcoz the bullet moves at a speed around 2000 km/hr its a super sonic speed. Bullet will reach the monkey even before sound of fireing the bullet reach to the monkey's ears. In addition to that even the monkey just starts falling as he see the trigger pulled his accelaration will be just 9.8 m/sec2 and the bullet will reach him far before his body moves a centimetre only, even then i wish that the monkey is saved.gud day

Answer 2

In practice he should aim below the monkey because when you sight in a rifle you already compensated for the bullet dropping.



If somehow you managed to sight a rifle to be on target where gravity had no effect.

And if you then went monkey hunting where gravity mattered.

Then the bullet would drop from the line of sighting at the same rate as the monkey dropped.

In that case you could aim straight at the poor little monkey..



But the real world is not like that.

We sight rifles in at a certain range.

I prefer 200 meters for my rifle.

The bullet rises above the line of sight at about 25 meters, is about 0.1 meters higher at 125 meters and is exactly on target at 200 meters.



Because of my sighting in my rifle on a target on a range I have compensated for gravity and at 200 yards I would be hitting the spot the monkey used to be if I was aiming directly at it.



I need to aim for the spot the monkey will be after the time it takes for my bullet to travel the distance from me to it.

--------

If you are being asked to solve it with math maybe they want you to ignore reality and calculate how far the bullet and monkey both drop.

They will be the same the same distance because the travel time is the same for both bullet and monkey.



On earth the acceleration of gravity is assumed to be 9.8 m/s



Because the force is proportional to the mass all object fall at the same rates no matter how different their masses are

(air resistance is ignored in calculating this, no feathers or parachute on the monkey.)





The only other factor is the elevation angle but that is likely to be ignored too. (the closer to vertical the bullet is fired the less effect gravity has in deflecting it from the line of sight, but more effect on its speed)

Answer 3

If he aims right at the monkey, the bullet will fall at the same rate the monkey falls.



This would be true if the shot was horizontal. But I am not sure when the shot at an upward angle.