01-05-2008, 10:50 PM
Quote:Yeah, but the sources stress not so much weight as strength....perhaps I should have said 'hard/dense/strong' rather than heavy, though the quote marks were meant to indicate not literally heavy......
Quote:And who cares if a javelin shatters once it connects with the target?.....you do ! cry: It is the initial split-second we are concerned with....the kinetic energy must not be wasted/fragmented in shattering, but 'flow' down the direction of the shaft with momentum and be transferred directly into the target so as to penetrate armour and flesh...... :evil: :twisted:
....as you say, once the energy has all been transferred, and the weapon comes to rest, it doesn't matter......but unlike a spear you need a strong shaft to cope with the forces (deceleration here) and transfer of energy from the missile - which the ancients knew ( doubtless by empirical methods rather than physics formulae ! ), hence hardwoods/strong woods/ cornel etc for javelins/missiles... D
I shall see if I can get to Armidale this year, not having been before......
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff