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Why are axe heads gently curved and not pointed? Why are round shields so popular? One rule of geometry is a good reason for both.

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Another long one, rambling on about the merits of curves in this case, by way of old 2000A.D. comics and frisbeeing crockery.

As with all such videos, people in the comments are getting a bit hung-up on the supposed accuracy of the physics. Physicists calculate using simplifications. There are many other factors that I did not talk about here, because I thought that eleven minutes was already too long. Part of what makes a blow glancing is that it slides off the target, so what gives a blow impact is that it grips the target rather than slides over it, and a perpendicular contact with the target affords the best grip. Yes, arms are not round lengthways, and yes, they are not perfectly hard either, so everything in my model is simplistic.

If a cue ball in snooker were cuboid, and slid across the baize, then if it didn't strike the target head-on, much of the effect of the impact would be to apply torque rather than to cause displacement. A spherical cue ball will instead always cause displacement, and this is a good indicator of the effectiveness of the impact of a weapon (that does not impale).

Obviously, if you want to impale someone, as with an arrow or spear, then pointy is the way to go.

I do not say that round shields are the best, nor that all shields were round. I am just discussing one factor that influenced their design. There were others.

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Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

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