Bob W wrote:
I'm speaking from a position of almost total ignorance here, but surely a bullet is travelling 2 or 3 times faster than sound? Over the short distances involved is it really possible to do this?
It's possible to get bullets that travel at subsonic velocity. They make less noise..... Even supersonic ones are not that fast, I think.
I think the trick is to put the acoustic trigger close to the gun. The resulting electronic signals travel much faster than sound and may trigger the flash before the bullet reach the target.
By the way, I have seen photos of supersonic bullets WITH shock waves (polarization effects), so they do not have to rely on slow bullets for these photos.
DagT
