|
|
|
|
The Infamous Paper Punch
When I was a kid we used to shoot pellet guns and .22 caliber rifles at a piece of silk hanging from a tree. When you hit the silk it would wave up because the bullet didn't have enough force to penetrate the material. Then one day I asked my Dad, "what would happen to the silk if we fired your .308 rifle at it." When we did the bullet had no problem punching a hole in the cloth. When I was older and in the martial arts I often pondered about that piece of silk and wondered how I could apply it my training. After all, force is force whether its a bullet or a punch. F=Ma^2 If the formula for force is Mass times Acceleration (meters/second^2) than its easy to see that a heavier and faster .308 caliber bullet would have a much greater force than the .22 caliber bullet thus penetrating the silk. Or in easier terms, if you were riding your bike and a fast moving bumble bee struck you between the eyes it would hurt, if you were struck by a freight train moving the same speed as the bumble bee it would hurt a lot more. So the faster you can make your hand go and the more weight you can place directly behind your hand the more force you will have giving you a stronger punch. |
|
Copyright © 2000 Frank Zinck. All rights reserved. |
