Talk:Woomera (spear-thrower)

message: I've removed the words 'Native American' from the sentence: "It has a similar function to the Native American atlatl but uses different construction methods and materials.". The atlatl article doesn't say anything about there being a distinct type used by Native Americans, and it also claims they weren't the inventors. Calamarain 08:48, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok. PMHauge 04:59, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Article currently is good on history, but says nothing about how one actually works. Can someone who knows add such information? 128.232.228.174 (talk) 14:55, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mechanics 

message: Sounds a bit vague and possibly "romanticising" but more likely is about status.  Julia Rossi (talk) 04:31, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Being?

message: *This article does not explain what makes a woomera unique from an atlatl.  Based on this article, I'd surmize that Woomera is just an aboriginal term for atlatl.  If it weren't for the lovely pictures, I'd say it may be a boarderline candidate for a merge. -Verdatum (talk) 11:32, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge with [[Atlatl]] & Uniqueness

message: "is said to have been the fastest weapon in the world until the invention of the self-loading rifle in the 19th century."
I removed this claim because, although referenced, it is untrue.  Here, as requested, is the reasoning and references.
Various experimental archeologists and athletes have measured spear thrower dart speeds, with 150fps (50 meters per second) at the high end of their measurements. .  This is a long way below the muzzle velocity even of black powder muskets (predating 19th century rifles by several centuries), which as our article notes fired bullets at between 400 and 1200fps.  The first "self-loading rifle", the Mannlicher M1885, had a muzzle velocity of 1400 fps, 10 times the speed of the spear thrower darts. 
Additionally, the woomera article contains the referenced claim that "the extra energy gained from the woomera's use has been calculated as four times that from a compound bow."  Compound bows shoot arrows which weigh about 25 grams at around 300fps.  In order to have 4 times the energy, a woomera dart thrown at the speed of a rifle bullet would need to weigh only 5 grams, the weight of a small coin, which is obviously incorrect.  For that energy at 150fps, it would weigh 200 grams, which sounds more likely.
It's worth adding that I'm not even sure what Willmot means by "fastest" in this comparison; since by the criteria of projectile speed it's obviously untrue, perhaps he meant something else.  Also, politics aside, there's really no difference in form or function between the woomera and the spear throwers or atlatls of other cultures, so I don't see how any claim like "fastest", "most powerful" etc can be made of this weapon vs the others. FiggyBee (talk) 13:58, 15 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removal of claim of "fastest weapon" - reasoning and references as requested. 

message: the proper term is water with grass in it, so that it does not slosh out of the bowl.80.13.8.21 (talk) 16:05, 9 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  water 

message: If we want to assert that the Woomera is very distinct from other spear throwers, it would help if we had clearer pictures.  According to the text, the woomera allows for adjustment during the throw because of its "wing" shape.  These pictures look more like a banana.
IceDragon64 (talk) 21:22, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Better pictures please