RANGE

, in Gunnery, sometimes means the path a shot flies in. But more usually,

Range now means the distance to which the shot flies when it strikes the ground or other object, called also the amplitude of the shot. But Range is the term in present use.

Were it not for the resistance of the air, the greatest Range, on a horizontal plane, would be when the shot is discharged at an angle of 45° above the horizon; and all other Ranges would be the less, the more the angle of elevation is above or below 45°; but so as that at equal distances above and below 45°, the two Ranges are equal to each other. But, on account of the resistance of the air, the Ranges are altered, and that in different proportions, both for the different | sizes of the shot, and their different velocities: so that the greatest Range, in practice, always lies below the elevation of 45°, and the more below it as the shot is smaller, and as its velocity is greater; so as that the smallest balls, discharged with the greatest velocity in practice, ranges the farthest with an elevation of 30° or under, while the largest shot, with very small velocities, range farthest with nearly 45° elevation; and at all the intermediate degrees in the other cases. See Projectiles.