IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
41 
throughout their entire flight, and for this reason should lose 
their velocity at a considerably shorter distance than they 
should if fired straight downwards.] ^ 
Perpendicular v. Horizontal Shooting. 
It is well known that a charge of shot does not travel nearly 
so far perpendicularly as it does when fired at an angle of 45°. 
The atmospheric pressure retarding the pellets is practically 
the same in both cases, and the constant pull of gravitation 
towards the centre of the earth should also be equal, whether 
the pellets travel vertically upwards or horizontally. 
The reason why a charge of shot fired horizontally travels 
so much farther than one fired vertically, is because when it is 
fired at a fairly high trajectory its course of flight is a parabola. 
If shot-pellets reach a height of, say, 150 yds. vertically, they, 
of course, fall straight down. When they are projected to the 
distance of 150 yds. at an angle of 45° they cannot drop 
straight down from their highest elevation, but continue tiieir 
flight in a long curve, till they reach the ground.^ 
If a gun is shot vertically upwards, i.e., at an angle of 90°, 
and is then gradually directed downwards, away from the 
perpendicular, and fired at intervals till an angle of 45° is 
^ The three preceding paragraphs merely give a theoretical view of the 
question of gravitation in connection with a charge of shot fired vertically 
downwards. 
- If a modern rifle is aimed at an angle of, say, 45°, the spin given to the bullet 
causes it to act differently to a spherical projectile. With a rifle-bullet, the angle 
of descent from its highest elevation is much shorter, or more abrupt, than the angle 
it takes to reach this point. In the case of a round cannon-ball, or a shell 
from a mortar, either of which a pellet of shot may be taken to represent in 
miniature, the angle of ascent to the highest point, and the angle of descent 
therefrom, do not differ to nearly the same extent as occurs with a rifle-bullet. 
