system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Would a poke with the same force as a punch do more damage? 

This question is assuming I won't break my finger/hand performing the poke. Mainly, I have no idea what determines how much harm an impact causes to a person.
gpt
There are two major components of "punching damage", aka blunt force trauma: Acceleration and compression, which also corresponds to two types of transfers of kinetic energy: elastic collision and in-elastic collision respectively.

Compression is when you absorb impact energy in an inelastic collision. This is what causes bruises and it can in serious cases deform hollow organs and lead to ruptures.

Acceleration is when the impact energy transfers to you in an elastic collision, making you accelerate and experience massive g-forces during a short period of time. This is what "knocks you out", and is generally the more dangerous of the two.

If the poke and the punch had the same kinetic energy (same speed and weight behind the punch) the poke would be more dangerous in terms of "compression damage", as the impact area would be smaller. But the "acceleration damage" would be more severe, as your fingers in a poke would probably compress on impact, thus making some of the impact energy go to compressive damage to *your* fingers.

TL;DR: If you aim for a soft-spot such as the throat or the eye, the poke would do more damage. If you aim for a harder part such as the forehead, you'd do better with a punch.

EDIT: Typo.