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Steve133 wrote:This discussion has officially passed the threshold of conversations that I can meaningfully participate in on my phone during quick breaks at work, so I'll limit my response to the following for right now:

fizteach wrote:I don't think the M4 would be classified as a black body.

Great discussion. Let's talk about some more physics

Dude, I was a physics major. EVERYTHING (stars, trains, horses, M4s, etc.) is a spherical blackbody in a frictionless vacuum. And all constants are some power of ten multiplied by "about 3".

The "spherical cow" approach is close enough for government work, and certainly close enough for Internet spitballing about guns in space.

It's a good thing I didn't state unequivocably that the object would not be a black body. A simple as I recall statement would have sufficed rather than condescension.

But that's just the way I approach things.

As far as recoil goes, conservation of momentum (which comes from F=ma) holds true in space just as it does on the earth.

I agree with TAM and Steve, as radiation would be the mechanism of heat transfer. Space actually contains dust and gas that can also allow some conduction to occur.

"The Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as Stefan's law, is a relation which described the power radiated from a black body in terms of its temperature." from Wikipedia

I don't think the M4 would be classified as a black body.

Great discussion. Let's talk about some more physics