how does a sling work?

Aslingis a projectileweapontypically used to throw a bluntprojectilesuch as a stone, clay, or lead "sling-bullet". It is also known as theshepherd's sling.

A sling has a small cradle orpouchin the middle of two lengths of cord. Thesling stoneis placed in the pouch. The middle finger or thumb is placed through a loop on the end of one cord, and a tab at the end of the other cord is placed between the thumb and forefinger. The sling is swung in an arc, and the tab released at a precise moment. This frees the projectile to fly to the target. The sling essentially works by extending the length of a human arm, thus allowing stones to be thrown much farther than they could be by hand.

The sling is inexpensive and easy to build. It has historically been used forhuntinggameand in combat. Film exists ofSpanish Civil Warcombatants using slings to throw grenades over buildings into enemy positions on the opposite street. Today the sling interests sportsmen as awilderness survivaltool and as animprovised weapon.