PoleVaultPower.com

I was thinking the other night that when you vault, you get 1/3 of your energy from the pole's rotation, 1/3 from the bend, and 1/3 from your swing. However, before the bend 1/2 was from the swing, and 1/2 from the pole's rotation right? So is it a coincidence that 1/3 of the record for a fiberglass pole is about 6.7 feet, and 1/2 the record for a stiff pole is about 7.5 feet? Since the difference .8 feet x 3 is does this mean that there's still 2.4 feet to be gained on top of the fiberglass record?

It would probably do you good to rethink your application of Physics. The pole bends because of the correct application of energy >>>run>>plant>>swing. The advantage of the fibreglass pole is to bend enough to lower your RELATIVE grip. The distance from the top of your hand to the tip of the pole. As the pole bends that distance decreases to the maximum bend. As a result the grip of a steel vaulter cannot possibly be as high as that of a glass vaulter. The glass pole also allows the athlete attain positions that we couldn't with steel. Yes, I used to use one!! A really good example is TMack. At the trials a couple of years ago he held 16'4" at the maximum bend the distance from his hand to the tip was 11'4".......

conservation of energy basically says you cant jumper higher than you can run fast

1/2 * velocity * velocity = gravity * delta height (Center Of Mass)

now theres some to be gained from piking, and the internal energy gained by the swing and pull. from my calculations and just some general logic, i would put the realistic cap on the pole vault at right around 20'10 inches meters. im sure some will argue, but i would be shocked if we ever see a world record higher than this

Ok I wasn't sure if it was coincidence or real. While we're on the topic of physics, is there a chart that translates kinetic energy into potential hight? Because using the formula KE=1/2MV2 I got that my kinetic energy is 1523.

what units? a number without units means nothing

KE=1/2MV^2
PE=MGH
KE=PE
therefore
1/2MV^2=MGH
so
1/2V^2=GH
so finally
H=(1/2V^2)/G+Height of center of mass

now a person must make sure that all units match up. V should be in meters per second and G is a constant 9.8 meters per second squared.

These links might be of some interest to this discussion:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/pole-vault2.htm
http://pukashell.net/kimo/polevault/physics.html
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~kinzler/pubs/pvfigs/
Enjoy!

- master

Ok, thanks a lot Master. According to that, with my speed of 6.8 m/s(estimated, I know that's pretty slow), Then my max height without a push off is 11' 3" feet. Since My PR is 10'6", that means basically to go higher I have to run faster?