HL Math Internal
Creating a more efficient bow
Kason Lankford
002820-0048
MATH AND ARCHERY
The original recurve bow started to die as archery began to decline in its use of militaristic purposes in the 17th century, but was kept alive through a numerous amount of dedicated British organizations such as the Royal Toxophilite Society, the Honorary Artillery Company, and the Royal Company of Archers. In the 19th century, Confederates of the USA started to make use of bows in response to the banning of firearms. There was eventually a revival in target archery in the USA; they produced and improved British bows, showing Britain they had a strong rival in target archery. As the world of target archery evolved, so did its bows. It was due to events in the 19th century that the recurve bow has transformed into the more ideal, efficient bow commonly seen today.
I have recently begun target archery as a hobby; although I am a beginner at the sport, I found myself curious to answer the question: How would I be able to make this bow better? ‘Better’ actually depends on whether the bow if being used for flight archery or target archery. Flight archery is “a form of competition in which shooting for maximum distance is the object, with little or no regard for accuracy”, thus, the ideal bow for flight shooting would
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Basically, the less mass, the greater the speed and distance. More mass will result in a higher amount of kinetic energy with a side effect of a decrease in distance. Lighter arrows will be more accurate due to having a flatter trajectory and less nose drop than a heavier arrow. Heavy arrows have more penetrative power, which is perfect for hunting game and such. However, the ideal bow in this paper will be in terms of flight and target archery, not hunting. So it would be less practical to involve a heavier arrow in this theoretical
The Avro Arrow was Canada’s broken dream and it could have been one of Canada’s greatest aeronautical achievements. The cancelation of the Avro Arrow was a huge mistake that set Canada’s aviation industry back, which resulted in a Brain Drain to USA and was an act of Canada bowing to USA pressure. The Avro Arrow, an advanced, supersonic, twin-engine, all-weather interceptor jet aircraft developed by A.V. Roe of Canada in 1949, could have been many things. It might have become the fastest plane in the world, our best defense against Soviet bombers, the catalyst to propel Canada to the forefront of the aviation industry. Instead, it became a $400-million pile of scrap metal, and the stuff of legends. If A.V. Roe Ltd. remained and the Arrow flew today, Canada’s aircraft industry would be a very different thing indeed.
The rifle and the coveted shotgun, literally brought home the bacon. With sleek models such as the Winchester .44 in 1873, accurate targeting sights increased a hunter’s ability to take down his prey, even from large distances, often exceeding 200 yards. The other weapon of choice, the shotgun, did not boast a straight, clean shot, but had the capacity to tear anything to shreds in a single blast. A short barrel provided the advantage of a wider blast range and easier handling (Trachtman et al 50). In many battles, the shotguns were often preferred for their simplifying features.
During the years leading up to and during the American Civil War there were a number of advancements in firearms technology. This paper will focus on a few of those advancements, namely the inventions of the Minié ball, the Spencer and Henry repeating rifles, and of the Gatling gun.
and pulleys to bend the bow's limbs, which are usually much stiffer than those of
Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel describes the ritualistic arts of discipline and focus that the Zen religion focuses around. In this book, Herrigel describes many aspects of how archery is, in fact, not a sport, but an art form, and is very spiritual to those in the east. The process he describes shows how he overcame his initial inhibitions and began to look toward new ways of seeing and understanding. In the beginning of the book Herrigel tells us that he is writing about a ritual and religious practice, “whose aim consists in hitting a spiritual goal, so that fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.” (Herrigel p. 4) Through his studies, the author discovers that within the Zen ritual actions, archery in this case, there lies a deeper meaning. Herrigel explains throughout this book that it is not through the actual physical aspect of shooting arrows at targets that archery is Zen, but through the art and spirituality through which it is performed. It is not merely shooting an arrow to hit a target, but becoming the target yourself and then, in turn, hitting yourself spiritually. By meeting this spiritual goal, you will then meet the physical goal. The struggle then is, therefore not with the arrow or the target but within oneself.
The crossbow is a weapon of antiquity. There is plausible evidence that the Chinese developed the weapon as early as 1500 BC Surviving examples exist in China from as far back as the third century BC These Han dynasty relics display a great deal of sophistication. The lock (chi) is comprised of a cast bronze box which holds a rotating nut and a two-lever seer and trigger that locks the release in a set position. Roman soldiers captured and ransomed in Sogdiana in central Asia in the first decades of modern reckoning are credited with bringing the technology of the crossbow to the West.
I have been bow hunting since I was about 8 years old. I am going to go over the basic steps and necessary equipment needed to start becoming a successful bow hunter. Some of the key things you will need during this are a decent set of camouflage, a compound hunting bow and a place to hunt. Despite the time it takes to be successful; bow hunting can be very rewarding.
Crossbows can vary a lot in design and construction. They range from 50 to 400 lbs. in draw weight. They can be very small hand held pistols or rifles, which can fire rapidly and accurately with pinpoint accuracy up to 60 yards and kill ranges up to 100 yards. The larger bows with 400lb. draw weights could have ranges of over 400 yards they could fire large arrows, rocks and other types of projectiles accurately while staying well out of range of most enemy fire. These bows were built of large beams and sat on wheels so that 2 men could change the position of the bow easily. These bows were very powerful but were also very slow in loading and firing. They had mechanical winches, which were hand cranked to draw the bowstring back. It took two men to run these bows called siege machines.
Buffalo have been hunted for many years, but the “Plain Hunters” would be able to butcher about ten to fifteen a day. The “Plain Hunters” were not able to slay as many before the 15th century, but when the rifle came the hunt became easier and more productive. “The first matchlock was created. Before the matchlock, weaponry was fired by grasping a flaming wick to a "touch hole" in the barrel igniting the gunpowder within the “flash pan”. The shooter uses one hand to fire and another hand to hold the prop to stable the firearm” (http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/technique/gun-timeline/). As the years go by, the improvement of hunting weaponry would sky rocket.
Long distance weapons were essential to European combat. The main long distance weapons used by Europeans during that time were the longbow and the crossbow. Each form of weaponry had its unique advantages and their pejorative. The long bow (shown in figure 1) was the original form of distance weapons. The term ‘bow’ means to be made from wood, iron or steel. The Welsh, who inhabited England, were the first people to use longbows. Longbows were 6-7 feet long and had a range of 250 yards, and still had the ability to pierce a knight’s armor (Byam 12). A well trained archer could shot 10- 12 arrows in a single minute. Despite these pro’s the longbow had a lot of disadvantages as well. One draw back was only skilled archers, who were costly to train, could use a longbow. Another disadvantage was it didn’t have a ready loaded arrow (Edge 34). The crossbow (shown in figure 2) on the other had been emphatically different. The crossbow had a span of 2-3 feet and could kill a knight on horseback with one shot, because of good aim (Byam 30). Crossbows had ready loaded projectiles, while the longbow didn’t and the crossbow could be used by anyone since it didn’t require any skill. The crossbow did have a down side though, it had slow reloaded because of a crank and it was expensive. Crossbows were also used for other thi...
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
Complex technical studies in recent times have shown that one can split a wooden arrow with another, but that it will become stuck in the first shaft, seems nearly impossible. Nowadays, this would be an ‘honor’ more likely for archers who are using tubular shafts made of aluminum or carbon.
According to Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth, one archetypal mythic hero appears in diverse cultures in different forms. Two protagonists in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki share similar heroic characteristics despite their different backgrounds and cultures.
The bow and arrow dates back to thousands of years ago, it is estimated that they were found anywhere from 18,000BC to 25,000BC. They were used all over the world but the first arrowhead was discovered in Africa. There are many kinds of bows, the most common are the longbow and the recurve, there were many different styles created by several cultures during different times in history. In the Stone Ages, drawings discovered in caves illustrated many simple segment bows with many different shapes; flat, paddle-shaped bows were shot by Andaman Islanders. Some bows were made with wood like elm and yew, while others were made with many different materials like animal bones, horns and tendons; this was called the composite bow. The composite bow could either be made of wood and other materials or be made completely from different materials. In China, composite bows were comprised of newly harvested and dried bamboo. Scientists suggest that the bow originated from spear throwers and in between 18,000BC and 25,000BC fire was used to make stone arrowheads harder and feathers were added to make them more accurate.
Hundreds of years ago people did not have the technology to explain different forces of nature. They created gods, each with separate powers, to rule their domains. Some of the gods were merciful, some were wicked, and others were merely servants of more powerful gods. Looking at the gods, it is easy to tell what the civilization most valued. I am going to look at the Greek and the Norse gods to compare what was most important to their societies.