T
he time for negotiation is
over: Man Haron Monis
has just suddenly shot
one of his 18 hostages.
A special unit of Australian tactical
police offi cers storms into the café
in Sydney and fi res off more than
20 shots at the Islamist attacker;
13 hit him, the rest hit the walls.
The jihadist has been deactivated,
he is no longer able to harm his
hostages, so the mission has been
a success—or so it would seem.Because as the smoke clears, the
police come to recognize the real
consequences of their operation:
Three hostages and one offi cer are
lying injured on the ground, and
34-year-old Katrina Dawson
has been fatally struck.
December 15th, 2014,
ends in a bloodbath.
Were those people
shot by Monis? No.
Forensic analysis
of the crime sceneshows the 5.56mm-caliber bullets
from the police weapons became
deadly ricochet shots when they
rebounded off the walls. Some had
altered their trajectory, others had
splintered and fl own through
the room like shrapnel.
But how do ricochets
occur? Is it possible
to predict how they
behave? iD on the
physics of diverted
projectiles...They are unpredictable, extremely
dangerous, and subject to their own
special rules — even experienced
soldiers fear ricocheting bullets.
Yet they too obey the laws of nature...Bullets can
be deadly even after
they make an impact.
Ricochets can claim
more victims than
regular shots.RICOCH
THE UNBELIEVABLE PHYSICS OF
LAB
Mar 2017 70 ideasanddiscoveries.com