Cavitation and GSW

Alright folks

I was asked about cavitaion today during gunshot injurys so i thought i would post a wee explaintion ! .

ok so all fire arms used diffrent caliber ammunition eg the british army use the standard nato 5.56mm . each round has its one mass and will leave the weapon at a certain volicty . so the kinetic energry = 1/2 mv2

basicly the bigger and faster the round the more damage its likley to cause . also the shape of the round also determines the damage potential . the flatter the round the more energery will be dispensed into the body tissuse on impacted. where as a pointed round may pass stright through the body without despointing much energery.


so cavitation occurs when the round disposts its energery in the tissues of the body . this causes a cavity around 30 - 40 times bigger than the diameter of the bullet . cavitation affects differnt tissues in diffrent ways  for example if the roudn strikes a soild organ it will do more damage as the do not have the elastic properties of say the lung and cannot cope with the shock .

most military rounds are designed to tumble inside the body and will genrealy exit the body backwards . this tumbleing effect will cause the exit wound to be much greater .

another consideration is the length of the woudn track . the long the track the more engery the bullet will deposit into the tissues . the damage will be maximised if the bullet fails to exit .

ok baisc understanding but hope you found it intresting ! .