Why do whips hurt so much?

Question

What exactly is the mechanism that makes a whip deliver such a strong impact? Elasticity, torque, or pressure? Just hitting something with a plank doesn't deal nearly as much damage. What's the difference?

Answer 1

It is the velocity, size and shape of the contact point. The end of the whip is small, tough, and moving with very high speed. This delivers destructive energy to whatever it contacts (and a lot of related pain).

Consider the comparison of a fist and a bullet. A fisted-punch actually has more force, mass and momentum "behind" it than most bullets fired from handguns. A bullet, however, because of its size, shape and speed, effectively "concentrates" a smaller amount of net force, mass and momentum on a very small point, causing destruction to relatively soft objects.