Dart Weight - How Important Is It

[Zazl]

The weight of a dart combined with the speed with which it is thrown gives the dart Momentum.

Momentum increases with speed and mass. The heavier an object and the faster it is moving = greater Momentum and the harder it is to stop.
Momentum of a dart can be measured by multiplying its weight (mass) by its launch speed. Most dart players throw darts at between 5 - 7.5 m/s, for this exercise I have assumed 6 m/s as being somewhere around average.

Momentum is normally expressed as kg-m/s in a specific direction. For simplicity assume the direction is towards the board and the amount stated is in grams - m/s.
To make it even simpler consider Momentum as the hp (horsepower) of the dart.

The images below show three darts of different weights and the "hp" they have.


Dart A is so light that it is difficult to throw and struggles to reach the board.
It should be noted that the only force besides gravity  acting on darts once they are released is drag, small light objects such as dart A which has very little hp are impacted severely by drag which is why it struggles to reach the board.

To increase the Momentum of this dart I added 1 gram to it which increased it's hp from 8.22 to 14.22.



The dart now reacted totally differently, reaching all targets of the board with ease and just as accurate as darts B and C.
From this little experiment I realised that the amount of drag on all three darts (they all have similar total surface area dimensions) is approximately the hp of the unweighted dart A - 8.22 hp, by the time it reached the board it was exhausted.
Dart A is fitted with a pin as its point, it uses very little hp to penetrate the board. If it was fitted with a standard point it would not have insufficient hp to stick into the board and would require a doubling of its hp to do so.
To defeat drag and penetrate a dartboard a standard dart must have at least somewhere around 30hp (.03kg - m/s of Momentum), if thrown at 6m/s its weight would be 5 grams.

Update - The following image shows the effect blunt darts have on Momentum.



All darts sold have more than enough hp to reach there targets, all dart players have enough strength to launch any dart at any target on the board.
If you are having trouble hitting D20 it is not the darts fault, it is yours and you need to modify your throw to increase your launch speed. This may mean concentrating on throwing with increased power, cocking your wrist slightly and/or using finger projection to increase launch speed.

The following images show my attempts at hitting various targets with the three darts shown here, they have a huge weight variation yet this variation does not show any adverse effect at the target zones. They basically all land pretty close to each other and the target. Please note my skill level is not high as the images show.

[bkbum]

I've always wondered if instead of there being an ideal weight for a dart there is a rather an ideal momentum range. If so, those who have a soft throw should be better suited to heavier darts and those with a strong throw should do better with lighter darts, which has always been the received wisdom. Leaving aside the question of how to accurately measure throwing speed, the question is: What is the range?

[Zazl]

I've always wondered if instead of there being an ideal weight for a dart there is a rather an ideal momentum range. If so, those who have a soft throw should be better suited to heavier darts and those with a strong throw should do better with lighter darts, which has always been the received wisdom. Leaving aside the question of how to accurately measure throwing speed, the question is: What is the range?

Studies on throwing things (virtually anything) accurately suggest that the optimum throwing speed is a speed that is slightly above the minimum. With darts that optimum would be somewhere around 5.5 m/s.
To answer the second part of the momentum equation I suppose you could use the most popular dart  used as a consensus of dart players. This weight would most likely be 23 grams.

Momentum becomes 23 x 5.5 = 126.5 as a possible optimum???

[samsimilian]

I so love darts science!!! Very nice, thank you!

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[jt4527]

Interesting stuff, thanks for the write-up.

[nixer55]

Moved to General Darts Chat.  Question, were these tests performed inside or outside?

[Zazl]

Moved to General Darts Chat.  Question, were these tests performed inside or outside?

Outside mate, I have to put up with the bloody wind.

[ROKGoose]

Don't forget about inertia, which is increased along with an increase in mass.  Inertia is the amount of resistance an object has to change.  I think that means, a heavier dart will hold a straight line better than a light dart.

https://howthingsfly.si.edu/ask-an-expla...and-weight