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
Escape velocity kg or 1,000 kg; what differs is the amount of energy required. For an object of mass formula_9 the energy required to escape the Earth's gravitational field is "GMm / r", a function of the object's mass (where "r" is the radius of the Earth, "G" is the gravitational constant, and "M" is the mass of the Earth, ). A related quantity is the specific orbital energy which is essentially the sum of the kinetic and potential energy divided by the mass. An object has reached escape velocity when the specific orbital energy is greater or equal to zero. An