Gymnasts often practice dismounts onto landing surfaces of different thickness
PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Force and Laws of Motion · Force and Laws of Motion
Problem
Gymnasts often practice dismounts onto landing surfaces of different thickness. Surface A stops the downward motion of an 80kg gymnast in about 0.10s, whereas Surface B stops the motion in about 0.30s. In each case the gymnast steps off the same platform and comes to rest without bouncing upward.
(a) Describe what is the same about the gymnast’s motion in the two landings and what is different.
(b) Rank the magnitudes of the average forces that the surfaces exert on the gymnast. Justify your ranking qualitatively.
(c) If a heavier teammate of mass 100kg lands on both surfaces from the same platform, explain whether your force ranking in part (b) changes and why.
(d) Discuss one design consideration (other than time of stop) that engineers must address when choosing a landing surface for regular practice in a gym.