I Watch Documentaries
David and Goliath.
This is not a religeous story, but it was inspired by the story from the Old Testament.
Is it possibble for a young man with a slingshot to kill a 9' giant in full Bronze armour and helmet with a single pebble?
Now bear with me because this is fascinating.
This is the experiment that a group of researchers used to find out.
First they studied ancient Philistine helmets to establish how big the unprotected target area was. It would have been about 4" x 2" of Goliath's forehead.
An ancient slingshot would be about 3' long from one end to a pouch to hold the pebble halfway along, then a further 3' to the other end. It would have a loop at on end to secure it to a finger and a knot at the other to hold it by, until releasing the pebble.
The pebbles used would be smooth river washed and about the size of a large chicken egg, but of the flatter type so as to be more aerodynamic.
For a target, They cast a piece of concrete the size of the exposed area of Goliath's forehead and mounted it on a 9' pole, connected to an impact meter.
Now apparently the people of the Balearic islands are renowned for their skill with the slingshot, so they recruited a young man, a slingshot champion to do the slinging.
Now they needed to know how much force it would take to crack Goliath's forhead and send a shockwave through his brain strong enough to kill him. They consulted a neurosurgeon, and apparently it would take an impact of 3 Newtons.
Now this is stunning: each time the young man released a pebble the slingshot made a loud crack. The cause of the crack! Was the pebble leaving the slingshot faster than the speed of sound! Making a sonic boom.
They didn't say how many attempts it took, but the young man DID hit the target area with one pebble
.
When they looked at the impact meter, it gave a reading of 3.6 Newtons.
That amount of force would have smashed a hole through Goliath's skull, and definately killed him.
So, it was possible. They said that it would have taken someone with exceptional skill and a lot of luck to do it with one pebble.
I find that incredible and quite fascinating.
How about you?
This is not a religeous story, but it was inspired by the story from the Old Testament.
Is it possibble for a young man with a slingshot to kill a 9' giant in full Bronze armour and helmet with a single pebble?
Now bear with me because this is fascinating.
This is the experiment that a group of researchers used to find out.
First they studied ancient Philistine helmets to establish how big the unprotected target area was. It would have been about 4" x 2" of Goliath's forehead.
An ancient slingshot would be about 3' long from one end to a pouch to hold the pebble halfway along, then a further 3' to the other end. It would have a loop at on end to secure it to a finger and a knot at the other to hold it by, until releasing the pebble.
The pebbles used would be smooth river washed and about the size of a large chicken egg, but of the flatter type so as to be more aerodynamic.
For a target, They cast a piece of concrete the size of the exposed area of Goliath's forehead and mounted it on a 9' pole, connected to an impact meter.
Now apparently the people of the Balearic islands are renowned for their skill with the slingshot, so they recruited a young man, a slingshot champion to do the slinging.
Now they needed to know how much force it would take to crack Goliath's forhead and send a shockwave through his brain strong enough to kill him. They consulted a neurosurgeon, and apparently it would take an impact of 3 Newtons.
Now this is stunning: each time the young man released a pebble the slingshot made a loud crack. The cause of the crack! Was the pebble leaving the slingshot faster than the speed of sound! Making a sonic boom.
They didn't say how many attempts it took, but the young man DID hit the target area with one pebble.When they looked at the impact meter, it gave a reading of 3.6 Newtons.
That amount of force would have smashed a hole through Goliath's skull, and definately killed him.
So, it was possible. They said that it would have taken someone with exceptional skill and a lot of luck to do it with one pebble.
I find that incredible and quite fascinating.
How about you?
By:
AlmostAristotle
Age:
61-65
,
Male
