Al.....
You are correct in that a bent rod IS a loaded rod.
The one exception, would be a rod which is manufactured in the bent position. (theoretical)
If your rod is not strung up and you bend it with your hand in your garage, it is loaded.
When the rod tip bends during counterflex there exists a loaded strain in it which is not provided by resistance to the inertia of a fly line, but the momentum of the still moving tip, though there may well be some contribution to this force by resistance to the forward motion of the start of the loop.
After counterflex, we have rebound which is the return of the bent rod to the straight position. That simply would not happen if that counterflex bend didn't result in some storage of energy.
Simply put: If you bend a rod, you stress it. That results in strain within it. That is called loading. Latent energy is stored in that rod every time an outside force causes it to bend, regardless of the direction in which it is bent. When the rod straightens, it does so with that latent energy being released as kinetic energy.
I'm sure your examiners really meant to describe an EFFECTIVE load on the rod against the inertia of the more slowly moving mass of the fly line during the cast. They realized that THAT load had resulted in a rod bend, and that the rod had already unloaded as the loop began to form at the RSP. That is likely the principal they were looking for in your answer. What happens after that, might well be considered as after the cast and in the realm of technicality having little if anything to do with propelling the line loop toward the target.
This kind of loading is partially described in Don Phillips' book as he gets into studies of first and second frequencies of rod oscillation. Fascinating stuff.....
Gordy
From: "Allen Crise" <flysoup@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "gordon Hill" <hillshead@xxxxxxx>
Subject: need help
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:27:18 -0600
Howdy Gordy.This is on the FFFCCI website From one of my students. So I do not feel I should answer.I was a taught a bent rod is a loaded rod. Now at my testing I was
told that was not the case. I was given the example of the rod tip
dipping after the stop is not a loaded rod.
Ok if the only thing a rod can do on it's own is straighten out, and
at the point after the stop when the rod dips it is a bent rod is it
loaded? Remember I didn't say "usable load" or "completely loaded"
Is a bent rod a loaded rod?
Would you consider the rod to be partially loaded if it is bent in any
direction, or just a usable direction?
I am trying to get a final answer or clarification of this so as not
to teach it improperly.
Thanks for the help guys and gals
Dave
ol ALAllen Crise FFF Master Casting InstructorSOC VP of EducationHawk Ridge Flycasting School2508 A County Road 1011Glen Rose, TX 76043254-897-2045geocities.com/rrdoctorflysoup@xxxxxxxxxx