Pure theory, likely never ever going to be real, but could a bullet move so fast that it goes through someone without even damaging them?

So, yes and no. Acceleration due to gravity impacts all objects equally. With no air resistance, on earth, everything speeds up at 9.8m/s/s. But, that “no air resistance” is a big asterisk. This is why, say, parachutes work. It’s also how we get terminal velocity. Often misinterpreted as “how fast you’d have to go to die from a fall” it’s actually “how fast you need to go before the drag from your air resistance is a force greater than or equal to gravity”

Right. That all makes sense. So the air resistance is what is also causing it to heat up. I still don’t see why a person wouldn’t do that.

So, multiple options here. Skydivers regularly hit terminal velocity, as fast as they’ll go in atmosphere, before pulling their chutes. At these speeds, heat from friction isn’t enough to worry about. Once again though, if you’re coming down from space, that “in atmosphere” asterisk goes away. If you’re dropping from a satellite, you’re going at speeds necessary to orbit, and you don’t have anything slowing you down until you hit the atmosphere. Suddenly your terminal velocity is way lower than infinity, and the friction you’re feeling from the atmosphere is INTENSE, rapidly turning that speed into heat

That is simply not true. All you have to do is design your projectile in shape, construction and materials so the kinetic energy gets properly used to have the desired effect on the target.

A tiny 40 grain .204 Ruger bullet with the insane muzzle velocity of 4100 fps will absolutely explode a watermelon if you use a rapidly expanding projectile such as a ballistic tipped varmint round. If you use the same against a reactive steel target that was only rated for rimfire, it will melt a clean hole through it without even noticeably moving it. And if you use it against a bull moose, it will absolutely destroy a large amount of surface tissue but not achieve enough penetration to reach the internal organs for a clean kill.

It isn’t a simple problem, the are many different types of dynamics that you can encounter depending on the nature of the projectile, velocity and target.

… the death star orbits. The timer for the rebels to blow it up in a New Hope was how long its orbit would take to clear the moon in its path to the rebel base. The battle of endor was fought over the new death star in orbit over the moon.

Yes, the death star is capable of warp, but that just puts it into orbit over different things.

If a character has 121hp or more they’re able to jump from a space station onto earth with like a super hero landing??

If a character has 121hp or more they’re able to jump from a space station onto earth with like a super hero landing??

I get the feeling the 4 million grain Revolving Peasant Gun with the velocity of 1% the speed of light will have the desired effect on any target.

What makes you say that?

Yes it orbits in the movies, that doesn’t conflict with anything I said. I’m describing a scenario where it doesn’t (which doesn’t happen in the movies).

A space station with the ability to achieve orbital speeds on it’s own power means it can also negate orbital speeds, before you jump off. And presumably regain them afterwards, if it doesn’t want to also plummet down to the planet.

Your example was for a space station that doesn’t orbit and you used the death star for that, which does orbit. Does that make sense to you? Cause it’s baffling me

… the death star orbits. The timer for the rebels to blow it up in a New Hope was how long its orbit would take to clear the moon in its path to the rebel base. The battle of endor was fought over the new death star in orbit over the moon.

Yes, the death star is capable of warp, but that just puts it into orbit over different things.

Hold up. Didn’t some guy drop balls off a roof to show that things fall at the same speed?

That is simply not true. All you have to do is design your projectile in shape, construction and materials so the kinetic energy gets properly used to have the desired effect on the target.

A tiny 40 grain .204 Ruger bullet with the insane muzzle velocity of 4100 fps will absolutely explode a watermelon if you use a rapidly expanding projectile such as a ballistic tipped varmint round. If you use the same against a reactive steel target that was only rated for rimfire, it will melt a clean hole through it without even noticeably moving it. And if you use it against a bull moose, it will absolutely destroy a large amount of surface tissue but not achieve enough penetration to reach the internal organs for a clean kill.

It isn’t a simple problem, the are many different types of dynamics that you can encounter depending on the nature of the projectile, velocity and target.

No, it was not an example of a station station that doesn’t orbit. It was an example of a mobile space station. I agree it would be baffling to read my comment that way.

Here is a rewording if that helps: You could jump off of a station station without worrying about orbital velocity if it wasn’t orbiting. To have a space station that doesn’t orbit, it would have to be a space station with engines, so that it can cancel that velocity. For an example of a station station that has engines, you can look at the Death Star.

The obvious use of the peasant railgun is instant delivery. Gonna start my new enterprise, pFood, coming at you within 1 turn or your money back!

If a character has 121hp or more they’re able to jump from a space station onto earth with like a super hero landing??

Well I’m being tongue in cheek, but I don’t see how a peasant travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of light will not obliterate anything he hits (along with himself)

This is simply true, you do lose potential energy transfer if the bullet exits, that’s how it can exit, that’s just not usually the point of a bullet, and generally speaking making exit wounds is considered a positive.

Now if you want to design a bullet that explodes inside a wound causing mass trauma and an incredibly difficult surgery to repair it is a problem, but surely no one would ever deliberately design a weapon to do that! /S

Fun Fact: the .50 cal MGs the Soviets supplied to the Vietnamese during the American invasion usually had enough penetrative power to go through the M113 APC’s aluminum hull…

Once. And then it would bounce around inside.