There’s a generally accepted rule in superhero books where
in the titular hero does his or her level best not to kill their chief antagonists
or the armies of thugs sent against them.
It’s a very loose rule, more of a suggestion most of the time, however
it exists. It’s from this rule that the
Green Arrow developed a quiver full of trick arrows, most famously-the BOXING
GLOVE ARROW (BGA).
Not since the batarang has there been a more captivating
projectile spawned from the pages of DC Comics with countless attempts to develop
it in real life, with myself being one of those budding entrepreneurs. Seriously I have plans, and if I can ever
find a viable market for functioning trick arrows, I may just be a millionaire. Or not.
Anyway, the question today isn’t “can a boxing glove arrow
be developed”, but rather “would it be functional.” When CW’s “The Arrow” series aired, it seemed
pretty cut and dry, but then in Season 3, the episode “Guilty” featured the
boxing glove arrow in probably the most practical way possible. Take a look:
Let’s break this scene down and take a look at the factors.
1)
The Distance: Oliver stands maybe ten to fifteen
feet away from Ted when he fires at him.
Most bows commercially available have a range that can be measured in
double digit yards. For instance, the
bow I use has a range of about forty yards before physics turns against me. Oliver uses the close distance to his
advantage.
2)
The Bow: Take a close look at the bow. Oliver draws the string back to its maximum,
and for that kind of bow, that would make it an effective killing machine past
my own 40 yard limitation. A more
skilled and experienced archer than I would make that weapon effective probably
up to 80-100 yards.
3)
The Target: Ted Grant is an experienced fighter
and has conditioned his body, either directly or indirectly, to take a severe
beating. He’s struck in the forehead
area and knocked on his back, but why?
4)
The Projectile: This is where the first three
factors come together to make it work.
An arrow is a very balanced instrument.
As the bow arms snap forward, it imparts energy through the string, into
the arrow causing it to launch forward.
The arrow needs to be balanced and aerodynamic in order to fly in a
straight direction and inflict the maximum amount of damage possible on the
intended target. But look at how the BGA
dips in flight, striking Ted with the knuckles of the glove rather than
straight on with the “fingers”. Well,
this is good because the padding in that glove is insufficient to stop a
hunting tipped arrow if the flight pattern goes uninterrupted. Energy is lost as the arrow begins to tumble;
where in the weight of the front causes it to flip in air. The arrow has a boxing glove attached to it,
it’s going to tumble, that’s inevitable, but Oliver uses the close proximity to
his advantage. He’s far enough away that
the arrow will start to tumble thus preventing the arrowhead from tearing through
the glove and into Ted’s face. He’s
close enough that the tumbling effect is reduced and more energy is put behind
the glove causing the effect he desires…to punch someone from far away.
A similar effect can be achieved by putting a tennis ball on
the end of a commercially purchased arrow.
The arrow will tumble, but if you are close enough you will still hit
your target. But is it safe?
Hell no. Let me
elaborate. You have a significant amount
of energy put into a relatively small space, namely the arrowhead. If you drop a target practice arrow, which is
typically blunt, on your foot point down, it won’t penetrate. It doesn’t have enough force. However, knock that arrow out of a bow, and
it’s going to punch through your foot.
The force imparted on the arrow creates heavier pounds per square inch.
Let’s put that into perspective: Look at how a hammer
affects a nail. If you take a hammer and
slam it down onto a board, you’re going to dent the board in an impact area
similar to the head of said hammer.
However, if you set up a nail and strike the head of the nail with the
hammer, the force is imparted from the hammer to the nail, driving it through
the board because that nail has a much narrower surface area. The same principle applies to the BGA, but in
reverse.
The force of Oliver’s arrow is distributed through a greater
surface area, the glove. However if that
bow has enough strength to launch an arrow 80-100 yards with lethal velocity,
distributing it across the surface of the glove won’t be sufficient to negate
the deadly effect. At speed, that glove is
traveling at roughly 2.5 times the fastest boxing punch recorded at 44 miles
per hour (delivered by Keith Liddell circa 2014) and boxing punches as slower
speeds than even that have killed people.
Now obviously in the shot above, we’re talking special
effects and professional stuntmen to ensure no one is actually harmed, because
they all understand that punching someone in the face with a fist moving at 110
miles per hour is a bad idea.
So what does that mean for the future of non-lethal bow
fired ordinances? Well for starters
there really is no such thing as “non-lethal”.
Despite how sturdy humans are, if it inflicts damage in anyway, it
carries the ability to kill you. Pepper
spray, tasers, stun guns, bean bag shot, air powered projectiles (BB’s), even
propelled water has the ability, under the right circumstances, to end a
life. Further, with all the afore
mentioned methods, there’s not much of a market outside of novelty and
entertainment for trick arrows as it is.
I’ve worked in law enforcement for about 15 years now and not once have I
ever heard an officer say “Man, I just wish I had a compound bow
instead of this semi-automatic.”
But in the long run, that’s okay. The BGA is an awesome tool that always gets a
cheer when it’s deployed by everyone’s favorite emerald archer because it’s
just so absurd and now you know why it’s always effective.
Thanks for reading.
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