Well if you shoot the ammo out the muzzle westward at mach 4 while your scramjet is stationary at mach 0, unless slowed down by air friction and wind, the ammo will be traveling at mach 4.

If your scramjet is traveling westward at mach 10, both it and the ammo which it has not yet fired are traveling west at mach 10.

If the the scramjet traveling west at mach 10 shoots the ammo westward at mach 4, certainly, the ammo's speed at the muzzle is mach 14. But the ammo's speed through the air will be slowed down by friction and will slow down and slow down from its initial mach 14 muzzle speed. SO THE KIND OF AMMO WHICH WILL MAINTAIN MACH 14 DESPITE THE AIR FRICTION HAS TO BE NOT JUST LIKE A CANNON BALL BUT ONE WHICH SHOOTS OUT GASES AT ITS REAR JUST LIKE A MINI MINI MINI SCRAMJET. BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, YOU REALLY ARE NOT A BAD PHYSICS STUDENT AT ALL.

THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS WHEN WHAT YOU ARE SHOOTING OUT IS LIGHT. THERE THE SPEED OF LIGHT IS ALWAYS CONSTANT. AT LEAST, THAT IS WHAT THE BOOKS SAY, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. MAYBE THAT'S WHY EINSTEIN'S MCC is double than the formula kinetic Energy = (1/2) MVV

Someone has had way too many Joe T Garcia margaritas, and that gas is just the final process of the refried beans.

We can do all this, but not produce a mechanical vehicle that is kind to the environment AND the pocketbook?

CP, I had the same thought...well, about the environment, anyway. The money side of things is the hard part, getting this outrageously expensive technology into something that the average Joe can afford.

In the oil bidness, we used to say you can have any two of these three things in a project: good, fast or cheap. That rule still applies to just about any kind of technology. I think we tend to settle for cheap and fast most of the time.

Hah! Install the new chemical iodine laser technology and a couple cruise missles it can drop out of a bombay (after temporarily slowing).

Gee, I was all ready to answer your physics question, and Eurasian beat me to it. Tough toenails fer me.

If you are traveling at Mach 10 and you shoot a bullet (Mach 4 muzzle velocity) in the same direction in which you are traveling, the vector sum of the velocities will be Mach 14 for the bullet. In the absence of an atmosphere, that's the way it'll stay. In the atmosphere, friction will eventually cause the bullet to slow down, and eventually you (in your powered vehicle) will run into the bullet. How fast this happens, and your closing velocity on the bullet, will depend on the shape of the bullet and how dense the atmosphere is. If the bullet gets far enough away from you to decelerate to zero velocity before you catch up to it, you will be in a world of hurt.

As Eurasian points out, if you shoot a beam of light instead of a bullet, it still travels at the speed of light no matter how fast you're going. If you're going 99.9% of the speed of light, time dilates for you and your dimensions shorten in the direction of travel, so that you always measure lightspeed as a constant.

Whew, was that long-winded!

Came here on a referral by Cowtown Pattie, just so you know. Cheers!

Steve, thanks for dropping by...I'm honored by a visit from anyone who goes through CP's neck of the woods.

So, here's another physics question for you (or anyone): what if the bullet in question is fired out the backend of the scramjet while it's moving forward at Mach 10?

Steve

Thanks for confirming the correctness of Eurasian's computation.

Midlanders usually get the truth like this: they look left and right at the faces of others. Whatever the crowd of faces decide, that is the correct answer in their opinion.

As an example: they heard eurasian experimentally suggest on the radio that government should simply give $300 to everybody to stimulate the economy, and also as a way to collect taxes - this was way back when Clinton was still president.

Came President Bush and Sec. Evans. As you can see, all of them are Midlanders. What did Pres. Bush do? He gave every taxpayer $300. Exactly the same amount to the very red cent mentioned in the main example of the Eurasian.

For over a year, they were making fun of the Eurasian and his 300 dollar suggestion. Then one day they woke up and Craig Anderson, the talk show host was saying: "Look!!! President Bush is giving everyone $300. Exactly the same amount the Eurasian was talking about!!! No joke!!! It is right there in the Midland Reporter!!! Take a look at it!!!"

Then came the army of talking heads. Talk show hosts and newspapers and TVs all with their own explanations. As I told you, they look left and right and look at the faces of the crowd!!! So even though they heard the $300 from the eurasian with their own ears, way back in the Clinton era, THEY HAVE TO FOLLOW THE OPINION OF RUSH LIMBAUGH AND OTHERS WHO KEEP POUNDING THE RADIO DAY IN, DAY OUT, FOREVER !!!

Now, people who write about inventions know full well that inventors do not stop with one invention, but continue on and on producing more and more inventions. That is what the Lord does!!!! As in His "Parable of the Talents" TO THOSE HE GAVE MORE, MORE WILL BE GIVEN TO THEM (because they are responsible stewards.) TO THOSE HE GAVE LESS, EVEN THE LITTLE THEY HAVE WILL BE TAKEN AWAY (because they are irresponsible) !!!!

So in their envy, in their hate in seing others do good, THEY STIFFLE OTHER INVENTIONS THAT ARE WAITING FOR THEIR ACCEPTANCE. THE INVENTIONS ARE ALREADY INVENTED. IN FACT, SOME OF THEM ARE DESCRIBED IN THE INTERNET. BUT UNLIKE THE WRITINGS AND PICTURES OF WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS, OF WHICH ERIC'S "JAVELINA" IS AN EXAMPLE, THE PATENT OFFICE AND THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE WHOSE "HEAD HUNCHO" IS COMMERCE SEC. DON EVANS DOES NOT GIVE OWNERSHIP TO INVENTORS EVEN IF THESE ARE DESCRIBED BY THE INVENTORS IN THE INTERNET OR EVEN IN THE PATENT OFFICE ITSELF!!!! EVEN IF YOU PAY THE PATENT OFFICE A TEN DOLLAR FEE TO HAVE THEM BE YOUR WITNESS THAT YOU SUBMITTED TO THEM A DESCRIPTION OF YOUR INVENTION, "OFFICIALLY, IN THEIR OWN VERY WORDS IN WRITTEN FORM" THE PATENT OFFICE SAYS IT WILL TREAT SUCH AS THOUGH IT NEVER EXISTED AND HAD NEVER BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE PATENT OFFICE UNLESS A PATENT APPLICATION IS FILED WITHIN A YEAR OR TWO, WHICH OF COURSE MEANS THE INVENTOR HAS TO PAY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN CASH (which impoverished inventors do not have) TO THE PATENT ATTORNEYS AND THE PATENT OFFICE. So, OWNERSHIP OF THE INVENTIONS BY THE TRUE INVENTORS CANNOT BE ACQUIRED!!! So guess who will end up applying for patents and owning the inventions!!!!!!

God makes available to poor inventors "INVENTIONS". Then the government, via its laws, turns over and gives the ownership to MONEYED JOHNNY COME LATELIES AND EVEN TO THIEVES, AND EVEN TO THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF!!!!

As these inventions produce wealth and jobs for people (without paying nor reimbursing a single cent spent by the impoverished but true inventors), YOU STILL BELIEVE THAT SAYING: " WHEN HAVE POOR PEOPLE EVER GIVEN YOU JOBS?????" Next time any of you, whether Steve, Eric, or anybody hear Mike Reagan, the son of President Reagan miseducate people when he repeats this on his nationwide radio program, TELL MIKE REAGAN WHAT THE EURASIAN JUST TOLD YOU!!! Or he can log into mywesttexas.com or at kwelradio.net so the eurasian can educate him and the nation with regard to this point.