If Peters could
have covered thirty-five feet on level ground, could he have covered
fifty feet with the advantage of a drop of nearly seventeen feet?
Assuming a certain weight for Peters, we could calculate the number of
foot-pounds of energy, or the initial velocity, necessary to make a leap
of thirty-five feet on level ground, and how many foot-pounds it would
require to make a leap of fifty feet with a drop of sixteen feet and
eight inches taken into the conditions. But as most of the equations in
our calculation are approximative, I prefer that the element of
gravitation should be handled in a general way. If a leaper were to
impel himself horizontally only, he would, in the shortest leap, fall
below a level. This fall may be met to the extent of about two feet, by
drawing up the legs--that is, by 'hunkering' as the leap progresses, and
alighting on his feet with the body to that extent lower than when the
spring began. In a leap of twenty-five feet, however, the leaper is
compelled to project himself upward as well as forward; and an
instinctive sense of just how little energy may be expended in raising
himself, and how much may be left for the forward impulse, is one of the
chief elements of his proficiency.
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