According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, all energy within a closed system is constant...
...Wounding is caused by energy transfer, and it cannot happen any other way.
I agree but I would like to point out that because a bullet does not exit you cannot assume that all its energy has been transfered to the animal, as a substantial part of the energy the bullet carries may be spent in the bullet deformation/fragmentation.
Also, you cannot assume that all the energy that is transfered to the animal is spent in destroying tissue as, again, a substantial part of its energy maybe wasted in the form of heat transfered to the animal with no lethal effect whatsoever.
BBerg
BBerg, we disagree, but only on one subtle point. If a bullet comes to rest inside an animal, it most certainly expended all of its energy into the animal during the process of transit and deformation (save whatever miniscule amount of potential energy remains as a result of gravity and its distance from the ground at rest -- sorry, couldn't resist).
All energy
would be expended into the animal as a result of inelastic collision; some is transferred to kinetic energy (tissue damage), some is lost as heat, some acts as momentum, etc. You are absolutely correct that not all of it is "useful" in killing the animal, however.
As hunters, we get to decide how that energy is expended by selecting our bullet type, velocity, and shot placement. At nominal velocities, I like a cup-and-core to go into the lungs; I like a monometal for high shoulder shots, and I'll put a Partition absolutely anywhere! In a way, I'm choosing to expend a particular bullet's energy in a way that I think will be most destructive/useful for the game at hand.
