In the 1968 Olympic Games, University of Oregon jumper Dick Fosbury introduced a new technique of high jumping called the Fosbury flop. It contributed to

In the 1968 Olympic Games, University of Oregon jumper Dick Fosbury introduced a new technique of high jumping called the €œFosbury flop.€ It contributed to raising the world record by about 30 cm and is presently used by nearly every world-class jumper. In this technique, the jumper goes over the bar face up while arching his back as much as possible, as in Figure P9.44a. This action places his center of mass outside his body, below his back. As his body goes over the bar, his center of mass passes below the bar. Because a given energy input implies a certain elevation for his center of mass, the action of arching his back means his body is higher than if his back were straight. As a model, consider the jumper as a thin uniform rod of length L. When the rod is straight, its center of mass is at its center. Now bend the rod in a circular arc so that it subtends an angle of 90.0° at the center of the arc, as shown in Figure P9.44b. In this configuration, how far outside the rod is the center of mass?

900 Figure P9.44