Da Silva, Adrik; Greenwald, Michael; Li, Yongtai; Manseau, Julianna; Woods, Ciera (Westminster College)
Faculty Advisor: Conwell, Peter (Westminster College, Physics); Kamenetzky, Julia (Westminster College, Physics)
The long jump is a track and field event that has a history dating back to 656 BC. Understably, much theorizing and experimenting has been done to find the ideal conditions necessary for an athlete to win such an event. This experiment tests the efficacy of such a theory by using an equation derived by Yongtai Li and comparing its calculations to measurements from a force sensor. Based on Newton's Second Law, the force and its respective range produced from a jump were analyzed and Yongtai's equation proved to be similar to the actual force due to the theoretical results overlapping with the measured results, but will be modified in the future to include angle and initial running velocity to provide an accurate measure of the force necessary to travel a certain horizontal distance. This equation and the ease of calculations will prove useful to long jumper's who attempt to defy the limits of the human body by breaking world records in their events