Question

Three weapons are lined up perfectly parallel to the ground; a
hand gun, a high powered rifle, and a cannon. The bullet from the
handgun weighs less than the bullet from the rifle and much less
than the cannon ball. At the moment that all three are fired at
once, a bullet from the rifle drops to the ground.

From first to last, what is the correct order of landing?
How far will each fall after one second?
What if the ground accelerated upward. Would the
outcome be the same?

Answer 1

The forward motion can be disregarded. They all fall DOWNWARD at the same speed,
except for air resistance. The air resistance would slow the small bullet most, the 2 rifle bullets next, and the cannon ball least. So the order would be:
Cannon, rifle bullets, hand gun bullet.
Distance would be slightly less than 16ft, since distance = 0.5*a*t^2
a= 32, t=1.
"What if the ground accelerated upwards" Not sure what you mean.

Answer 2

everything lands at the same time. to conclude otherwise is to assume something about areas etc of the various particles. eg the small bullet might assume some kind of aerodynamic position and fall quicker than a blunt cannon ball. who knows?

the result would be the same if the ground accelerated upwards.

Answer 3

@IrishBoy123 so we don't take into mind the force that a cannon or rifle will put in?

Answer 4

not if they are all fired perfectly horizontal to the ground, as the question stipulates. that force acts horizontally and determines how far they travel horizontally before they land.