Although the composite Turkish bows can shoot the farthest, it is only
with very light arrows; they are incapable of projecting heavier shafts
to the extent of the yew long bow, that is, they can transmit velocity
but not momentum; they have resiliency, but not power.
Besides these experiments with bows, many tests were made of the flight
and penetration of arrows. A few of the pertinent observations are here
noted.
A light arrow from a heavy bow, say a sixty-five pound yew bow, travels
at an initial velocity of one hundred and fifty feet per second, as
determined by a stopwatch.
Shooting at one hundred yards, such an arrow is discharged at an angle
of eight degrees, and describes a parabola twelve to fifteen feet high
at its crest. Its time in transit is of approximately two and one-fifth
seconds.
Shooting straight up, such an arrow goes about three hundred and fifty
feet high, and requires eight seconds for the round trip. This test was
made by shooting arrows over very tall sequoia trees, of known height.
The striking force of a one-ounce arrow shot from a seventy-five pound
bow at ten yards, is twenty-five foot pounds.
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