The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is still going

Re:The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is sti... by thaumasiotes on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @10:57PM (#25654524)

> Do you definitely want to transfer kinetic energy more than momentum?

Seems that way; if you're using a hammer, the goal is for all parts of the system to come to a stop. You're trying to deform the material you're hammering the nail into; isn't that measured in energy transfer?

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Re:The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is sti... by GlennS on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @02:12AM (#25655344)

I guess this is tricky because you want all that energy to go into deforming the wood and not the nail. The physics is beyond me here.

Intuitively, I feel like weighty hits tend to drive the nail into the wood, whereas fast hits just bash the nail about. That might be more about accuracy though?

(Also my anecdote confirmed by someone with practical experience, see other comment.)

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Re:The Cole-Bar Hammer, a 7-year old Kickstarter that is sti... by thaumasiotes on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @11:21AM (#25659087)

> Intuitively, I feel like weighty hits tend to drive the nail into the wood, whereas fast hits just bash the nail about. That might be more about accuracy though?

Yes, if you're using your arm, there's a tradeoff between speed and accuracy. If you're using a nail gun, not so much.

I was just saying that it looks to me like measuring what happens in energy seems correct, and measuring in momentum looks like a conceptual mistake.

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