Timeline for How to trigger explosive arrows?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 12, 2023 at 9:47 | comment | added | Marc R | Design is good and will work but there's a complexity to it which makes it dangerous. The arrow can be set off during release. The arrowhead is brought to maximal velocity during a short power stroke of around 21-24 inches and within a fraction of a second. The draw weight actually perfectly sets the lower bound for how high the static friction has to be at the very least. If your bow has 100 lbs of draw weight then push on the arrow with a 100 lbs force and see if that can overcome static friction and collapse the arrow head. Make it double! Require 200 lbs to activate the arrowhead. | |
| Feb 10, 2019 at 20:04 | history | edited | Gryphon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
corrected grammar
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| Jan 30, 2019 at 14:22 | history | edited | Gryphon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
corrected grammar
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| Jun 13, 2018 at 12:02 | comment | added | Trish | how tall and heavy you want your arrowheads to carry an ammount of powder for a good explosion? Arrowhead weights are around 18 gramms. The powder charge would be at least a magnitude larger, making these super unwieldly if placed at the tip. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 17:12 | history | edited | Gryphon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
corrected grammar and spelling
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| Jun 12, 2018 at 15:47 | comment | added | Hawker65 | You could also carve the outside of the arrow like quadrants to have more shrapnel but this might hurt the aerodynamics too much | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 15:45 | comment | added | Hawker65 | One big problem with this is safety. Your quiver better not be shaky. I think the addition of a safety pin (wooden stick) would be nice to fixate the head in place and prevent accidental detonation. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 14:05 | history | edited | Schrodinger'sStat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Based off use comments, Changed striking to to Pyrite.
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| Jun 12, 2018 at 13:05 | comment | added | UKMonkey | @Schrodinger'sStat Hitting wood - sure it wouldn't make any difference since it's not getting any penetration ... hitting bone - don't believe it. Remember that this arrow head is going to need to be fatter than the normal as well so that it can contain the explosive; meaning that even more energy will be required to get penetration; and given the effort required to construct a hollow stone arrow head with stone tools, you really really don't want it to be a dud. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 12:58 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @UKMonkey you don’t think that the force would be enough regardless? Hitting wood/bone? | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 12:57 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @UKMonkey True. I’m going to play around with this design a bit. I think I can come up with something simplistic that would “catch” | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 12:54 | comment | added | UKMonkey | @Schrodinger'sStat you may be able to (though I'm pretty sure if energy is being used to gain penetration, then it can't be used to strike effectively) .... but in the iron age; in the stone age? no chance. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 12:43 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @chrisH thanks! I’ll update my answer with that once I get off my commute. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 12:42 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @UKMonkey My reasoning is that you want the arrow to penetrate, and then explode. You could add recurved barbs to the tip and get the same force withot sacrificing penetration I think? | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 11:37 | comment | added | UKMonkey | Since the damage of the weapon is now the explosive element and the shrapnel, having the sharp point is a bad design and likely to result in failed explosions. (as well as being hard to make) The idea of the tip was to maximise penetration into the target; but this is no longer the desire - to get the best strike on the flint, a flat arrow head will be much more efficient since it will have the greatest transfer of energy into the strike. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 8:34 | comment | added | Chris H | Wikpedia says Throughout prehistoric Europe flint and iron pyrites (commonly known as fool's gold) were struck against one another in order to create a spark for firelighting | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 21:52 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @james Agreed on that it’s a bit complex for stone-age, but given they figured out gunpowder, this isn’t a stretch. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 21:44 | comment | added | James | I was thinking this too, some sort of flint and steel arrowhead. This specific design may be a bit complicated for a stone age tribe but something in this vein makes sense. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 18:55 | comment | added | Schrodinger'sStat | @len Apparently what makes the spark is the shavings off of the steel, so I don't think hitting anything hard would cause a spark. Not sure though. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 18:47 | comment | added | Len | Something along these lines was going to be my answer. What if the gunpowder filled arrowhead was made of flint? As soon as it strikes a hard object it sparks thus igniting the powder. | |
| Jun 11, 2018 at 16:56 | history | edited | Schrodinger'sStat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 298 characters in body
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| Jun 11, 2018 at 16:46 | history | edited | Schrodinger'sStat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Edited to explain mechanism step-by-step.
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| Jun 11, 2018 at 16:41 | history | answered | Schrodinger'sStat | CC BY-SA 4.0 |