If someone throws a small-sized object, like an ashtray or a phone charger, at a person's head, what word should I use to describe the impact?
I'm thinking about 'stroke', 'strike', or 'blow', but it's not easy to tell the difference from the definition given in dictionaries. As far as I understood, 'blow' refers only to physical contact, like a fist, so I guess I can exclude that.
Another question concerns the preposition to be used, i.e. 'on' or 'to', since an ngram search gave me many results in both cases.
A couple of example sentences for clarity:
That was a hard stroke (or whatever other word) to (or on) his head.
He felt a hard stroke to the back of his head.
On a side note, I've always found the word 'stroke' rather puzzling, since it also refers to a gentle touch. But that, I guess, can be cleared up with an adjective.