Shock waves are large amplitude pressure waves produced by an object moving faster than the speed of sound like a boat or plane, or other things such as an explosion, lightning or even a moving piston.

When a source moves faster than the waves it produces, no waves will form in front of the source but will pile up behind and become compressed. The waves protruding are confined to a cone that narrows as the speed of the source increases and the waves bunch up, creating high-pressure regions outside the compressed waves. This border from inside to outside is the shock wave. The strength of a shock wave dissipates greatly with distance, much more so than a regular wave, as heat and other energy are more quickly transferred into the surrounding environment. Once enough energy has dissipated, the shock wave will become a regular wave such as a sound wave.

In this image, the USS Iowa is firing shells from its cannon that travel about twice the speed of sound. While the shells themselves will likely produce their own shock waves as they travel through the air, it is the shock wave caused by the explosion of the cannons that is visible on the water.

Sling

Bullets outdate the invention of firearms, used as ammunition for slings and slingshots. Each bullet tended to be roughly spherical and made from stone, lead or bronze.

Gulliver

Ammo calibres vary in size, from the tiny .17-inch diameter rounds for pellet guns, up to the colossal .50-inch diameter rounds for heavy machine guns and sniper rifles.

Storm

The record for the weapon capable of firing most rounds per minute belongs to the metal storm variable lethality law enforcement pistol (three rounds ever 1/500sec).

Record

The world record for a long-distance bullet kill is held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who used his rifle to hit two Taliban machine gunners at a range of 1.54 miles (8,120ft).

Mini

French officer Claude-Etienne Minié (1804-1879) is credited with developing modern, plugged rounds – allowing bullets to expand when fired so they follow the rifle’s bore.

Interestingly, despite the historical clear-cut nature of the plot, many academics and historians believe that not all was as it is now chronicled, with Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and spymaster to King James 1st, often been cited as instrumental to the plot’s progression. Indeed, many commentators argue that Cecil (a devout Protestant) was made aware of the plot early on its formation and let it develop in order to foil it later, with much publicity, allowing him to usher in a wave of new anti-Catholic laws. Cecil’s ability to undertake such a scheme, note academics, is supported by the fact that he was trained by the famous spymaster of Queen Elizabeth 1st, Sir Francis Walsingham, who had excelled in foiling numerous Catholic plots against her, as well as penetrating the upper echelons of Spanish society, who were at war with England at the time.

The Brown Bess musket was the weapon of choice for riflemen during the rise of the British Empire and was used in numerous incarnations for over a hundred years. The musket, which is a .75 caliber flintlock, weighs over 10 pounds and is almost a meter and a half in length. Due to the many stages required to fire, as well as its unwieldily proportions in comparison to modern firearms, firing the musket was a tricky task, with experienced shooters capable of only four shots per minute.

Click here to view the embedded video.