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Concept
Recoil
Summary
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force required to accelerate something will evoke an equal but opposite reactional force, which means the forward momentum gained by the projectile and exhaust gases (ejectae) will be mathematically balanced out by an equal and opposite momentum exerted back upon the gun.
Any launching system (weapon or not) generates recoil. However recoil only constitutes a problem in the field of artillery and firearms due to the magnitude of the forces at play. Gun chamber pressures and projectile acceleration forces are tremendous, on the order of tens to hundreds megapascal and tens of thousands of times the acceleration of gravity (g's), both necessary to launch the projectile at useful velocity during the very short time (typically only a few milliseconds) it is travelling inside the barrel. Meanwhile, the same pressures acting on the base of the projectile are acting on the rear face of the gun chamber, accelerating the gun rearward during firing with just the same force it is accelerating the projectile forward.
This moves the gun rearward (and you want to stop it, and push it back into the firing position) and generates the recoil momentum. This recoil momentum is the product of the mass and the velocity of the projectile (gasses included), reversed: the projectile is moving forward, the recoil is rearward. The heavier and the faster the projectile, the more recoil will be generated. The gun would acquire (without recoil mechanism) a rearward velocity that is ratio of this momentum by the mass of the gun: the heavier the gun, the slower.
As an example, a 8 g (124 gr) bullet of 9×19mm Parabellum flying forward at 350 m/s muzzle speed generates a momentum to push a 0.8 kg pistol firing it at 3.5 m/s rearward, if unopposed by the shooter.
Official source
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