A sledgehammer is a tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

 consisting of a large, flat head attached to a lever

Lever

In physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...

 (or handle). The head is typically made of metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

. The sledgehammer can apply more impulse than other hammers, due to its large size. Along with the mallet

Mallet

A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of rubber,or sometimes wood smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...

, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area. This is in contrast to other types of hammer

Hammer

A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...

, which concentrate force in a relatively small area.

Etymology

The word sledgehammer is derived from the Anglo Saxon "Slaegan", which, in its first sense, signifies "to strike
violently". The English words "slay" and "slog" are both cognate.

Uses

The handle can range from 0.5 metre to a full 1 metre long, depending on the mass of the head. The head mass is usually 1 to 3 kg (2.2 to 6.6 lb). Modern heavy duty sledgehammers come with 10 to 20 lb (4.5 to 9.1 kg) heads. Sledgehammers usually require two hands and a swinging motion involving the entire torso

Torso

Trunk or torso is an anatomical term for the central part of the many animal bodies from which extend the neck and limbs. The trunk includes the thorax and abdomen.-Major organs:...

, in contrast to smaller hammer

Hammer

A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...

s used for driving in nails. The combination of a long swinging range, and heavy head, increase the force of the resulting impact.

Sledgehammers are often used in destruction work

Demolition

Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....

, for breaking through drywall

Drywall

Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper...

 or masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 wall

Wall

A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air...

s. Sledgehammers are seldom used in modern mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 operations, particularly hand steel

Hand steel

Hand steel is a mining term that applies to the use of a chisel-like tool. The chisel is struck violently with a striking tool, usually with a sledgehammer. It is one of the several mining techniques used in traditional mining and one of the several with the use of basic hand tools. Hand steel was...

. Sledgehammers are also used when substantial force is necessary to dislodge a trapped object (often in farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 or oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

 work), or for fracturing concrete. Another common use is for driving fence posts into the ground. Sledgehammers are used by police forces in raids on property to gain entry by force, commonly through doors. They were and still are commonly used by blacksmiths to shape heavy sections of iron. The British SAS

Special Air Service

Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...

 counter terrorist team used sledge hammers to gain access to rooms during the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege

Iranian Embassy Siege

The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, London. The gunmen took 26 people hostage—mostly embassy staff, but several visitors and a police officer, who had been guarding the embassy, were also...

. However, today they use a tool called a "dynamic hammer."

Another iconic use of sledgehammers is for driving railroad spikes into wooden sleepers

Railroad tie

A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...

 during rail construction. When the two ends of the Union Pacific railroad were joined at Promontory, Utah

Promontory, Utah

Promontory in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, is notable as the location of Promontory Summit where the United States' Transcontinental Railroad was officially completed on May 10, 1869....

, Leland Stanford

Leland Stanford

Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...

 hammered a golden spike

Golden spike

The "Golden Spike" is the ceremonial final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory...

into a tie with a silver hammer.

Post maul

Post mauls are similar to sledgehammers in shape, but are meant to drive wooden fence posts into the earth. They have broad, flat circular faces that are significantly larger in diameter than the body of the head (where the handle attaches). Sledgehammers usually have octagonal faces that are the same diameter or slightly smaller than the body of the head.