Using technology to better understand traditional bowhunting(more pics page 2)

[Thumper Dunker]

Thats pretty cool

[owlbait]

Cool pics. I'm sure we will have some physics guys in to explain what is "really" happening but that is REALLY neat photography. Send it to mythbusters?

[Bill Skinner]

Trajectory is a parabla, not a curve.  The air resistance is cutting your speed until you will have lost enough that most of your your momentun is gone, the arrow (or bullet) will dive.  Bill

[Kip l Hoffman]

Look how long the limbs are still vibrating in relation to how far the arrow has gone down range.  Do you have any idea the time in flight?
I would have thought there would be more arc in the flight path.  Must be a darned fast bow for a 45 yard shot.

Waiting to see the rest of the pictues.

Kip

[Looper]

That's cool.  Do you have a really heavy arrow to try?  Like one around 600 grains?  It would be neat to see the difference in trajectories.

[stik&string]

Thanks for the pics this is a really cool idea. It would be interesting to compare those arrows to heavier ones to see the difference.

[Jock Whisky]

I've found that between 15 and 35 yards the trajectory of my arrow is about 4 or 5 inches, that is the distance between hi and low points. After that the arrow drops off significantly.

Try it. Put a small marker on a large backstop and then use the tip of your arrow as a sight. Start at 5 yards and shoot several arrows placing the tip of the arrow on the mark the way you would with a sight pin. The arrows will impact above the mark. Measure the distance between the mark and the group you just shot.

Repeat this at 5 yard intervals up to 40 yards. You should see a relatively flat trajectory up to 30 or 35 yards then the arrows will really begin to drop off.

This is for a 55-60 lb bow and 500 grain arrows, and yes your results may vary.

JW

[David Yukon]

Very cool, keep them comming it is realy interesting!!

[chopx2]

If you draw a line from the archer's eye to the point of impact you will see the arrow is below the line of sight rises above it and then drops into the target where the line of sight ends

Part of the reason the early flight looks flatter is because as the arrow leaves the bow it is actually rising (above the line of sight to the target), peaks as gravity overcomes the upward velocity, and then starts to descend gainging downward speed the longer it is falling add fletching drag and that is why you get that dramatic drop at the end (parabolic flight)

[twitchstick]

Very interesting to observe. Thanx for sharing.

[Bjorn]

Very cool experiment. Part of the reason for more rapid 'falling' at the end is because that is what's happening as the arrow looses speed it also falls more for every few feet of forward motion. On really long shots the arrow will almost seem to 'hover' as it is coming in to impact the target. I guess that is what Chop said too.
Similarly an out of spine bareshaft will drift left or right when it gets beyond 20 yards and starts to slow down.

[MAT]

Guys, this is because gravity is not a constant, it's an acceleration. Falling objects increase velocity by 32.2 ft/s or 22 mph every second. Ignoring wind resistance an object starting from rest (0 ft/s) will reach 32.2 ft/s after one second, 64.4 ft/s after two seconds, and so on. Thus the arrow will drop faster at the end and you'll see an arc like you did (the arc is because of the increasing rate of vertical drop).  Also the arrow slows down and thus will travel in more of an arc than if it didn't.

[cacciatore]

Keep it coming this is very interesting.