What mythology is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? - Tech4Task4F

 

In the early 1960s, Dick Fosbury tried his hand at almost every sport, but never excelled at anything until, at age 16, he turned to the high jump. 

But when he couldn't compete against the stronger athletes at his college using the then-standard high jump technique, Fosbury tried jumping a different way: backwards. 

Instead of jumping to the bar with his face, 

bringing each leg up in the traditional straddle manner, he jumped to the bar with his back. 

Fosbury improved his record by more than half a foot, surprising his coaches with The Fosbury Flop and his strange new style of high jump. 

Over the next few years, Fosbury perfected his high jump style, won the US National Trials, and secured his spot at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. 

At the Olympic Games, Fosbury stunned the world with his new technique, winning the gold medal with an Olympic record jump of 2.24 meters. 

By the next Olympic Games, almost all high jumpers had adopted what became known as the Fosbury flop. What is the secret behind the technique? 

Center of Mass This is based on a physics concept called the center of mass. 

For each object, we can find the average position of all its mass by considering how the mass is spread around the object. 

For example, a flat, rectangular object of uniform density will have its center of mass at the intersection of the two diagonals, equidistant from each corner. 

We can use similar calculations to find the center of mass for other objects, or to find the object's point of equilibrium, which is just below its center of mass. 

You may also like

Try to balance by holding the broom and slowly bring your hands together until they meet. This balance point is just below the center of mass of the broom. 

We humans also have a center of mass. 

When most people are standing, their center of mass is around their stomach, but what happens to your center of mass when you raise your arms in the air? Your center of mass moves upward. 

It moves every time you move throughout the day, based on how your body is positioned. It can also go outside your body. When you lean forward, your center of mass is located under your bent stomach in a place of no mass. 

It's strange to think about, but this is the average position of all your masses. Many objects have their center of mass outside their bodies. 

Think donuts or boomerangs. 

Now look at the Fosbury flop, and observe the position of the jumper's center of mass. Jumper runs very fast, so he can convert his horizontal velocity to vertical velocity, and jump. 

Wait for it...there. Notice the jumper's center of mass as his body leans back. It's under the bar. This is the secret behind jumping. 

With the old, pre-Fosbury techniques, the jumper had to exert enough force to lift his center of mass a few inches above the bar to clear it. The Fosbury Flopper doesn't have to. 

The genius of the foosbury flip is that the jumper can apply the same amount of force, but raise their body higher than ever before. 

This means he can lift the bar so high that even when his center of mass can't go higher, his arched body still can. 

Fosbury's technique took the high jump to new heights by separating the jumper's body from its core, giving him much more room to clear higher and higher bars. 

So the Fosbury flop may be the single greatest leap in sports history, which is also a great leap backwards.