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Re: long and short

On Wed, 1 Dec 1999, Michael Moloney wrote:

In the November Scientific American on p. 28, Thomas Samaras is
referenced as claiming that a person 20% taller than another, in falling
over will hit the ground with 210% more kinetic energy than the shorter
person.

Perhaps this is because tall people fall through a more rarified portion
of the atmosphere and as, a result, lose a smaller portion of their
original gravitational potential energy to air resistance.

John Mallinckrodt mailto:ajm@csupomona.edu
Cal Poly Pomona http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm