Conceptual Physics (12th Edition)

Published by Addison-Wesley
ISBN 10: 0321909100
ISBN 13: 978-0-32190-910-7

Chapter 12 - Think and Discuss - Page 243: 88

Answer

One's strength scales as the cross-sectional area of one's arms and legs, but one's weight scales with the volume of the body. As discussed on pages 236-237, the ratio of strength to weight is greater for smaller creatures. For comparable effort, a smaller gymnast will be able to lift a larger fraction of his/her own weight as compared to a larger gymnast.
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