stopping power
Ability to halt
Stopping power is a bullet's ability to incapacitate a target quickly—to stop an attacker in their tracks rather than merely wound them.
The term appears constantly in firearms discussions, where caliber, bullet design, and velocity all factor into assessments: The .45 ACP is legendary for its stopping power.
The concept extends to any force that halts forward motion: a linebacker's stopping power, a goalie's stopping power, the stopping power of sanctions against a rogue state.
Ability to cause death
- knockdownBlow causing a fall
- penetrationEntry into something
- caliberBore diameter or quality
- ammunitionWeapon projectiles and charges
terminal · velocity · firepower · accuracy · precision · potency · deadliness · trajectory
Product of mass, velocity
- impulseSudden urge to act
- forceStrength or compulsion
- inertiaResistance to altered motion
- decelerationDecrease in speed
mass · velocity · kinetic energy · resistance · impact · energy transfer · collision · newton
Convincing someone not to
- nuclearOf atomic energy
- intimidationDeliberate fear-inducing pressure
- threatIndication of potential harm
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
containment · sanctions · coercion · defense · strategic · countermeasure · arms control · nonproliferation
lethality
Ability to cause death
- knockdownBlow causing a fall
- penetrationEntry into something
- caliberBore diameter or quality
ammunition · terminal · velocity · firepower · accuracy · precision · potency · deadliness · trajectory · range
momentum
Product of mass, velocity
deceleration · mass · velocity · kinetic energy · resistance · impact · energy transfer · collision · newton · joules
dissuasion
Convincing someone not to
- nuclearOf atomic energy
- intimidationDeliberate fear-inducing pressure
- threatIndication of potential harm
retaliation · containment · sanctions · coercion · defense · strategic · countermeasure · arms control · nonproliferation · mutually assured destruction
deceleration
Decrease in speed
pads · calipers · rotors · regenerative · hydraulic · brake fluid · drum · emergency · friction · modulation
- brakingdisc brake, drum brake, brake pad, brake rotor, brake drum
- weapon traitsaccuracy, damage, range, recoil, durability
- ballisticsballistics, bullet, bullet drop, cartridge, trajectory
- particle physicsquark, quarks, lepton, leptons, boson
- wound ballisticsentry wound, exit wound, penetration, bullet trajectory, tissue damage
- physicsphysics, momentum, atom, acceleration, gravity
stopping poweracceleration
Rate velocity changes
driving force · thrust · momentum · kinetic energy · push
stop, power, powerful, stopped, stopping, nonstop, empower, stops, stoppage