A flea is able to jump straight up about 0.64m. It has been said that if a flea

Question

A flea is able to jump straight up about 0.64m. It has been said that if a flea were as big as a human, it would be able to jump over a 1oo-story building! When an animal jumps, it converts work done in contracting muscles into gravitational potential energy (with some steps in between). The maximum force done by the muscle is this force times the length of the contraction. If we magnified a flea by a factor of 900, the cross section of its muscle would increase by 900^2 and the length of contraction would increase by 900. How high would this "superflea" be able to jump? (Don't forget that the mass of the "superflea" increases as well).

Explanation / Answer

0.64m Because the mass of the flea increases by the same amount as the energy released by it's muscles.

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