Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [weapons]

A tool or instrument used in order to inflict damage or harm to living beings - physical or mental -, artificial structures, or systems.

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Can bullets fired into the air kill a person when they fall?

Lately, I've been watching the Libyan civil war in the media, and both sides in the conflict often celebrate success by firing their AK-47s into the air. Not to say that firing guns into the air is restricted to any particular group, I'm just using…
Mark Rogers
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Do 1 in 2 Swiss citizens have guns and do they have the lowest crime rate?

I came across a facebook post by an Australian political party that states 1 in 2 citizens in Switzerland have guns Lowest crime rate in the world Are the above two statements true? (source)
user1605665
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Is gun control effective?

I have seen numerous arguments about gun control, in the sense of laws restricting gun ownership or possession, and whether widespread gun possession affects crime rates, and each side is happy to pull out studies that are favorable to their side. …
David Thornley
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Was the German V2 rocket the only weapon whose production killed more than its use?

Early in David Edgerton's history of technology, The Shock of the Old he discusses cost benefit analysis applied to some military weapons. He argues, for example, that the US would have caused a lot more damage to Japan and might have ended the war…
matt_black
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Does Ukraine have biological weapons facilities?

There's a viral conspiracy theory that Russia attacked Ukraine to neutralize Ukraine's biological weapons. Among many other sources, this tweet from Glenn Greenwald cites a video where Senator Marco Rubio asks Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland…
Reinstate Monica
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Are Katanas made of steel folded 1000 times?

A Katana needs to be made of steel folded 1000 times, according to eHow: Pound the tamahagane into two separate blades. These need to be heated, pounded by hand, and folded 1,000 times each to remove the impurities. Pound one of them another 1,000…
Sklivvz
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Will a bullet be split in half if it hits a butter knife that is fixed in place?

I was reading a manga, and I saw this: So I was wondering. Will a bullet be split in half if it hits a butter knife that is fixed in place? Have there been experiments to test that?
DarkAjax
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Can cockroaches survive a nuclear war?

I am sure most people will have heard this claim in some form or another: Cockroaches are so resilient that they will survive the nuclear holocaust. source Is this true?
Sklivvz
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Do "sword-swallowers" swallow swords?

Sword-swallowers, such as Dan Meyer claim to be putting a real metal sword down their throats. Are they really pushing a piece of metal down their throats, or are they some sort of magic trick with fake swords?
Oddthinking
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Does Havana Syndrome exist?

The US House of Representatives recently passed a bill to help diplomats and officials that have been impacted by 'Havana Syndrome'. This legislation has already passed the Senate, and since signed into law by Biden. According to The NY…
Chris Fernandez
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Are Hamas' Qassam rockets not very destructive?

Recently there was this answer on Politics.SE, which quotes extensively from Norman Finkelstein's book, Gaza: An Inquest Into its Martyrdom. In particular, there was deep disagreement from this quote from Page 265 What’s yet more telling, it…
Machavity
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Do falling bombs make whistling sounds?

I grew up watching movies that depict the sound of a bomb dropping overhead like this: Feeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww Is that for real? I have never heard a bomb dropping over my head. Just curious how it would sound in real life.
Question Overflow
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Does chain mail protect against arrows?

In Lords and Ladies, fantasy author Terry Pratchett repeatedly states that chain-mails are not a good protection against arrows: chain-mail from the point of view of an arrow can be thought of as a series of loosely connected…
Maciej Piechotka
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Was Kursk sunk by USS Memphis?

On of the theories in the Kursk incident suggest that it was sunk by USS Memphis following the collision with USS Toledo. Theory has originally surfaced in 2005 film, but lately allegedly there are some leaks from Russian Navy officers confirming…
vartec
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Do these photos show Ukrainian children being trained to fight the Russian army?

From a widely-shared Reddit post: Ukrainian children trained to use rifles against Russian soldiers The other photos in the post are shown below. Neither the post nor the comments provide a source. Reverse image search turns up similar…
LShaver
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