Legal Definitions - ballistics

Definition: Ballistics is the scientific study of the motion of projectiles, such as bullets. It is also used to determine a weapon's firing characteristics, especially in criminal cases to find out if a particular gun fired a given bullet.

Examples:

• A forensic scientist used ballistics to determine that the bullet found at the crime scene was fired from the suspect's gun.
• During a shooting competition, the participants had to take into account the ballistics of their bullets to hit the target accurately.

The first example illustrates how ballistics can be used in criminal investigations to match a bullet to a specific gun. The second example shows how ballistics is used in a shooting competition to help participants hit their targets accurately by understanding the motion of their bullets.