The geek in me is coming out in this post. The other day the following thought popped into my head.
"I can't dunk a basketball. I wonder what gravity on Earth is necessary for me to dunk a basketball?"
Yep, total geek right here. :-) A basketball rim is exactly ten feet high and I figure I need at least an additional 6 inches to dunk the ball. Therefore, I need a reach of 126 inches. Right now I can brush the bottom of the net, which hangs about 15 inches below the rim. Thus I need another 21 inches in reach.
The average vertical jump is about 17 inches and I figures I'm about average. I figured out the initial velocity I have to reach that height using standard equations of motion. Using that velocity, I determined the acceleration of gravity, g, needed to reach an additional 21 inches.
I need the acceleration of gravity on Earth to be 4.39 m/s^2, or about 45% of the current value of 9.81 m/s^2. Ug....that's depressing!
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