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Problem Scenario:
While shooting at a buck at fifty yards I was less accurate then normal, however I was using a feather fletching instead of the plastic vein fletching. Now was I just clumsy or was there a difference in fletching accuracy.

Broad Question:
Does the material of the fletching affect the flight of the arrow?

Specific Question:
does fletching material affect accuracy of the arrow?

Hypothesis:
The plastic fletching shall be the most accurate.

Variables
Independent Variable: metal fletching, feather fletching, plastic fletching Dependent Variable: accuracy

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
position of the bow, distance between bow and target, and weather conditions

General Plan:
I shall shoot one type of arrow fletching 20 times and measure the distance away from the center of the target each arrow was. Then I shall repeat the process for each fletching material.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
I will be sure to not kill any animals with the arrow.

Number Of Trials:
2

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
20

When data will be collected
after each shot

Number of Observations:
40

Where will data be collected?:
Brian's archery shop

Resources and Budget Table
media type="custom" key="15425200"

Data Table
media type="custom" key="15446066"

Time Line
April 16-preform experiment and record data End of April-finish wiki page First week of May-complete poster board

Background Research
Feather fletchings today are made from real turkey feathers and have been used for millenia compared to the more recent invention, the plastic vein fletching. Feather fletchings are used more commonly for closer shots given the fact that it is more forgiving when exiting the bow compared to the plastic fletching. However the plastc veins are better for long distance shots because while less forgiving when exiting the bow they keep their shape over long distance thus creating less drag then the feather fletching. The reason for this is that the feather will expand after leaving the bow where the plastic has a denser material where it will keep its shape.

Detailed Procedure
I will shoot 20 arrows with metal fletchings and when I am done I will measure the distance away from the center of the target the arrow is. I shall repeat this for both the feather and plastic fletched arrows. to determine the most accurate arrow fletching I will record the distances away from the center of the target the arrow is, and finding the average for each arrow fletching. The lowest average is the most accurate.

Data Analysis
The data shows that the average distance away from the bullseye was zero cm.

Conclusion
I tested whether arrow fletching material affected the accuracy of the arrow. After collecting the data I have concluded that the arrow fletching material does not effect the accuracy of the arrow, because each fletching type was the same distance away from the center of the target.

Discussion
I did not notice any trends because the range that was given to me to shoot the arrows was to short to display the proper data. The range would have to be 50 yards to see a significant difference in accuracy. So from my data there was no relationship between the type of arrow fletching and accuracy. However I was able to answer the specific question, does arrow fletching effect the accuracy of the arrow, and no it does not. My data does not contain any flaws, so all of the hunters out there can now no not to worry about which arrow fletching to use. This data will mostly be used by bow hunters. Now to improve upon this experiment I would have used a longer range to test the accuracy of the arrow fletching, preferably 50 yards instead of what I used(20 yards).

Benefit to Community and/or Science
The benefit of this expirement is that it will tell you when and when not to use different types of arrow fletchings while hunting to ensure a hit and clean kill.

Abstract
For my experiment I wanted to find out if the the type of arrow fletching affects the accuracy of the arrow. My hypothesis is that the plastic fletching is more accurate. However, after I collected my data it showed that both arrow types were equally accurate given the distance shot at. In case any of you out there want to try this out for yourself or any other expirement involving bow and arrows or just simply want to shot a bow and arrow then head down to Brian's Archery Shop.