[ELI5] why is dry firing a bow so bad for it? Does the arrow really make that much of a difference in that regard?

Question

[ELI5] why is dry firing a bow so bad for it? Does the arrow really make that much of a difference in that regard?

In: 2366

Answer 1

Potential energy. You draw the string increasing the energy held in the bow. With an arrow there somewhere for that energy to go, without it all feeds back into the limbs of the bow and then what’s left into your arms. Basically equal and opposite reactions doesn’t have somewhere to equalize so it’s just sent back into the bow itself.