Muzzle velocity design. In a side by side comparison with the .50 BMG, the titanium round "of any caliber" released almost 28 times the energy of the .50 BMG, with only a 27% mean loss in momentum. Energy, in most cases, is what is lethal to the target, not momentum. In conventional guns, muzzle velocity is determined by the quantity of the propellant (burn speed, expansion), the mass of the projectile, and the length of the barrel. A slower-burning propellant needs a longer barrel to burn completely, but can, on the other hand, use a heavier projectile. A faster-burning propellant may accelerate
Mass–energy equivalence Mass–energy equivalence In physics, mass–energy equivalence states that anything having mass has an equivalent amount of energy and vice versa, with these fundamental quantities directly relating to one another by Albert Einstein's famous formula: formula_1 This formula states that the equivalent energy () can be calculated as the mass () multiplied by the speed of light ( = about m/s) squared. Similarly, anything having energy exhibits a corresponding mass given by its energy divided by the speed of light squared . Because the speed of light is a very large number in everyday units, the formula implies that even an