Does having a roll of quarters in your fist actually ever help in a fight? Is it just a myth or is there a biomechanical advantage?

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Does having a roll of quarters in your fist actually ever help in a fight? Is it just a myth or is there a biomechanical advantage?

In: Physics

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

That would not help you in a fight. Brass knuckles would. Not covering up your fingers would make then incredibly vulnerable and if anything could cause you more damage with a stack of quarters behind it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Think about a rock falling on your head, if it’s a pebble then you might not even notice, if it’s a roll of quarters it would hurt a lot.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Mechanically, it actually will help because it means your fist is less “squishy,” and as a result there’s more of a direct connection between your fist and your wrist.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Enclosed in your fist probably not, it may add extra weight to it but not that much. Taped to the front of your hand would do some damage.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think it would. It just reinforces the structure of your fist. I have small, weak hands and a roll of quarters would increase the size of my fist and support the inside so the shape doesn’t give out during impact. It would still hurt either way.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It is more to make your fist land solid. The roll of quarters doesn’t actually do much; technique does more.

That said, you don’t need to hit somebody hard to knock them out, you just have to hit them square and that’s surprisingly hard to do. That’s why boxers spend so much time training technique.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes, it helps. By adding more weight to your fist your punch hits harder. Two things matter when determining the force of an impact, speed and mass. You can swing as fast with a roll in your fist as you can without, and the mass is increased dramatically.

Source: hung out with a bunch of sharps back in the day and this one little kid swore by the quarters. Cops cant call it a weapon, you just need bus money. And a roll of quarters weighs the same as standard MMA gloves. Not too heavy to slow your swing but heavy enough to matter.

Dont know what all these people are talking about your knuckles for – the idea isnt to protect your hands it’s to cause maximum damage to whoever is hassling you with a single punch.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Mechanically it’s increasing the mass of your by about half a pound. Assuming you get a bit of a wind up and can get the hand to roughly the same speed as a normal punch (not likely to work for a 1″ punch) you’re going to be able to create more momentum, which translates into more force in the punch. If I had two bats… one ultra light (but didn’t give like a whiffle ball bat) or a heavier metal one… you’d probably want to get hit by the lighter one.

It also make your hand give a little less, so more force is imparted to the blow, but may do more damage to your fingers if they don’t have a place to move. That said, the goal is not to have a prolonged fight and you hope to deliver one knockout blow.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Force is equal to mass times velocity squared. So adding mass to your fist will add to impact damage. Same thinking behind depleted uranium bullets.

IncreAsing speed is bettwr than increasing mass through

Anonymous 0 Comments

A proper punch requires you line up your two big knuckles with the bones in your firearm. This usually means your knuckles are pointed slightly below your wrist.

Your fingers must be curled in and thumb underneath the make your hand as solid as possible AND keep your smaller knuckles out of the way from the striking knuckles (the ones lined up with your arm.)

A roll of quarters is going to make a proper fist impossible but give you slightly more momentum. If you hit something hard like a skull your fingers are going to get hurt bad.
Maybe for soft flesh like a kidney or gut shot the coins might give someone who doesn’t know how to hit a slight advantage but it’s not going to be better than learning how to make a proper fist and throw a proper punch.

If you want a punching weapon get some knuckles. Or spend the money on deescalation techniques and never have to punch anyone.