Hey Brian,

This is your APPC pal Kunal. I just finished reading this article detailing the physics involved in our everyday jumps.  I know that you love to play basketball- right? Well, I have some things I want to share with you about the rules governing that prized jump of yours.  Excuse me if I sound overly-didactic here- I'm just a pedant i guess.

Firstly, there are many factors involved with jumping. Allow me to highlight the most important ones.  First, I will show you the equations involved. d= vt + .5at^2 is the bread and butter kinetmatic equation.  Further derivations lead us to Vf= Vi + at which is the definition of uniform acceleration.

We can, through substitution, arrive at the Vf^2= Vi^2 + 2ad equation which also takes into account the distance over which the displacement occurred during the jump.  Then, substitute again to find Fn= Fr -mg. Ultimately, through more algebraic manipulation, you end up with H = FnS/mg.  Not too shabby, eh?  There is an alternative way of finding this answer through deriving based on the conservation of energy, but I don't want to overload your mind.

Through this equation, and a vast collection of statistics, the author of this article can draw many conclusions (and he does.) He finds that the heaviest and tallest athletes often do not jump the highest, and that its those who can maintain close to the maximum force the longest in their jump that do achieve the greatest displacments in their height.  (Check the graphs I've provided on my web page for more information). 

The rest of the article diverges into special traits of athletes and animals (one in the same for us science elite, eh? ohohoho) The secret of the grasshopper's jump is its angular hind legs and the large size of its extensor muscle in comparison to its flexor muscle.  Broad jumping and sargent jumping are also covered. For more information, definitely check out www.wikipedia.org to find out what those are.

Thanks for reading man. I hope you're enlightened.

Sincerely,
K Dizzle