Faster Higher Smarter: Bright Ideas That Transformed Sports

Faster Higher Smarter: Bright Ideas That Transformed Sports — page 5
The STRADDLE JUMP is more efficient than the scissor All of the jumpers in Mexico City except Fosbury were using this style You take off from the inside foot lift the outside leg and roll over the bar facedown the middle as you’d expect but the donut is different There the center of mass is located in the hole not in the actual donut itself WHY IT WORKS To complete a successful high jump you have to tackle two problems get the middle of your body as high off the ground as possible and arrange all the dangly bits those pesky arms and legs to work to your advantage First things first height This part is actually simple When you jump you just push off as hard as possible simple but certainly not easy Understanding the dangly bits Not so simple First you have to know about center of mass That’s the scientific name for middle of your body Locating an object’s center of mass is easy if we’re talking about a simple shape see diagram With a block or a ball the center of mass is right smack in 8 Center of mass