Local conditions, drag and distance

[willie]

Ballons reminded me of flying a kite. sometimes there are surprises just a little ways up. Guess if you want to break records at matches, you gotta shoot when its time for everybody to shoot. But if its a personal attempt, then you could take the kids picnicking and kiteflying and learn a bit more about the winds aloft.

[Jim Davis]

There is a lot of good info on the subjects discussed above in "Archery, the Techical Side." There are articles on arrow flight beginning on pages 122 and 185. (Note that the second article says that drag varies as the square of the velocity. This is wrong. IT varies as the cube of the velocity.)

There is also an article on the effect of feather size and center of gravity, beginning on page 77.

I think there are places where it can be read online.

[joachimM]

Jim, could you explain why drag relates to the cube of the velocity instead of the square?

[Jim Davis]

Jim, could you explain why drag relates to the cube of the velocity instead of the square?

Nope.  Can't explain gravitational acceleration being 32' per second, per second either, but text books and even wikipedia agree on both drag and gravity.

[Jim Davis]

I was WRONG! Too long since I was casually studying aerodynamics. Drag does increase as the square of velocity. It's power required to maintain velocity that varies as the cube.

Sorry. I hate being wrong because I try not to be.

Jim