[Beendare]

Bowwild.
Ideal FOC gas been around since the 1940’s. Flight archery was popular then and competitors experimented to death on whats best.

Then there was the CN Hickman controlled testing.
It stands to reason from that flight testing the configuration that flies furthest carries the most arrow energy - all else equal.

Those Hickman tests showed a range of 11%-16.8% as ideal. ( Easton is 8-16%)


In another test he did on stability of bare shaft, 14% and a little above was deemed the most stabile in flight. Very low FOC had the arrow wanting to flip around.

Hickmans conclusion on fletching was: you don’t need much if you start the arrow correctly( in a tuned bow)

I think we need to keep from getting bogged down in minutia.
The one constant is our arrows need to fly straight to impart all of their energy.

 

[bowwild]

I agree.

While interesting to contemplate the physics of archery I have to admit never having calculated or worried about most except for arrow and broadhead trueness and tune.

 

[Bbulkley18]

Good stuff. Thank you

 

[BalanceInAll]

Chem professor J. Spencer did a series of physics lectures on the physics of archery. It's worth a look if you want to understand the physics of a bow shot arrow.

I liked it.....and he deserves recognition for this.

He explains it on another forum [cut and pasted from. the Bowhunting section on AT]

I've debated doing this for some time, and it has been almost a year since I recorded much of this content. In light of the recent popular podcasts that may touch on this subject, I thought now would be an appropriate time to post a lecture series on physics for the interested archer.

I have found that most of these podcasts (even the ones with engineers and experts) usually get some if not most of the physics wrong. I haven't listened to any of the recent ones that have popped up, but I wanted to provide this resource for the interested in case any of you wanted to learn the real physics behind the archery system, particularly with respect to lethality in hunting.

Some things to note:

1. This is a real course in physics, if taught at a somewhat accelerated pace. Think of it less as "the physics of archery" and more as "university physics where most of the examples are archery-based".

2. Many of you (perhaps rightly) don't care about this—these videos are obviously not intended for you. You may feel the urge to post something along the lines of "none of this matters, just go get a sharp broadhead and a tuned arrow and you'll be fine". You are correct, but these videos aren't intended to open the doors on the secrets of arrow lethality to the masses; they are intended for the user who maybe wants to learn elementary physics but never had an opportunity and would like to see how these physics concepts can be applied to an archery system.

3. This playlist is long. I don't mind lecturing but I hate editing video, so they aren't as pretty as many of the fancy videos out there are. I am sure that I made mistakes (there is at least 1 that I've found that I need to correct when I get a chance). Please kindly point any you find out and I will be glad to correct them or at least acknowledge the errors in this thread.

More on AT

This is excellent. Thank you!

 

[Bryan H]

I like this idea! I have a couple degrees in Physics, so natural I would I suppose.

Re arrow FoC: It seems possible, perhaps even likely, that FOC values for optimized arrow flight/range may be different than FOC optimized for hunting/penetration. I have not considered, so have no opinion personally, and would be interested in what folks think. I shoot targets mostly, and in past have tried for as close to 10-12% as I can get without doing weird stuff. But I dont worry overmuch about it, rather shoot for simplicity in my portfolio of arrows vs. perfection.

Ed Ashby noted that higher foc arrows deflect less after a hard impact on bone. He also noted that it does not increase penetration until you reach 19% or better.

 

[shootrj2003]

If

 

[Plagioclase]

Very interesting - thanks for posting!

 

[NeilM]

Nice!