Why? The Science of Athletics

SOME MORE MATHEMATICS FOR ATHLETES 283 will kill the momentum of the missile. When this point is reached the discus will certainly mount higher, but it will fall more steeply and distan.ce will be lost in con– sequence. Optimum Point when Lift is Greatest as compared with Drag It remained, therefore, to discover the optimum point at which the "lift" would be greatest as compared with the "drag", and the experiments carried out in the wind tunnel proved finally that the elevating effect of a head-wind up to between seven and eight miles an hour was increasingly helpful that, to the discus thrower ; there being, after a steady decrease in the benefit up to 14·5 m.p.h., 8 0 IOJZtaG4 Ul IZO 144 110 176 FIG. 103 15-()0•"' Kl-23 ••• 3-41 .... while beyond that point a . head-wind became definitely detrimental. The graph of the results of the experi– Experiments to ments with winds of varying strengths against Ascertain the the discus, with no wind, and with following lrifluence of winds, is given in Fig. 103 above. The Head and Tail reader will no doubt note with interest, Winds also, the parabolas of flight and the maxi- mum heights attained in flight at different distances of throw and in the circumstances of varying wind conditions.