[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

Think of a pan and oil. Without any meat to cook, the oil will be the one to burn. The energy/heat from the pan is transferred to the oil and without any meat, it’ll start smelling bad soon enough.

Same logic with the bow. Without any arrow to pass or transfer the energy to, the bow will suffer from the energy transfer.