Topic: More impact on a 5 foot vault or 5 foot drop?

[Craig MacDonald]

So if you come up to an an object with a 5 foot drop on one side and did a kong vault over top would there be more or less force on the landing then a straight 5 foot drop?

[Gage E.]

I would imagine the vault would have less impact because you have more moment going and your mind is more in a fluid state and the rolls are much easier. Buts thats just how I feel.

[David Johnson]

Straight drop would have more impact. With the kong vault, you're moving forward a lot more, less downward momentum to deal with.

[Adam McC]

There's two elements to this question, regarding physics.

The first has been addressed. Speed. You can generate more forward force running at a kong than the outward force you can generate from a standing jump. This means you have more forward momentum and less downward momentum, which mean less downward impact with the ground. (Assuming you know how to convert the forward momentum safely, aka rolling)

Second point is the center of gravity at the highest point of your movement. During the kong, your center of gravity is mere inches above the wall, and so if its a 5 foot drop, your center of gravity is dropping about 5 feet and 3 inches. But if you stand on the wall and jump/drop off, you have added the height of your legs (more if you jumped) to your drop; your center of gravity is raised, and so on that same wall you find yourself falling something closer to 7.4 feet, assuming you're an average 5'8.

[Dan Frank]

Adam hit the nail on the head.

[Gregg HIPK]

It's actually WAY messy. There are a few things to think of:

Kinetic energy = half mass times velocity^2
Impact = mass times (change of velocity divided by duration of time)

So if you landed REALLY bad, and suddenly came to a dead stop [all the kinetic energy in a very short distance in a very short time]:
  Kong = impact to the ground + impact of forward momentum.
  Jump = impact to the ground + minimal forward momentum.
The distance traveled from top of jump to initial impact on the ground is going to be the same either way - a little over 5 feet. Your center of gravity will have fallen further with the jump. If you're moving fast, the kong impact could be more.

Crouching before you jump off the wall will lower your center of gravity, and reduce impact.
A good landing takes the kinetic energy from the drop, and spreads it over a longer distance and a longer time.
Landing on something soft gives you extra distance and more time from initial impact until the bottom of your landing.
A roll lets you keep most of your forward momentum [so little impact there] plus you spread the impact of the fall over an even longer distance, even longer time.

On and on and on...

http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-05/physics-free-running

[Scott "Geekmann"]

So, the jist of all those physics lessons is if you are going more forward than down, you'll feel less impact when you roll. (roll correctly of course )

[Jack Kendall]

Well, it's dependent on what you do after said kong/jump. Adam was right in regards to standing and jumping, but like Gregg said, you could simply crouch before you dropped, and then there wouldn't be much height difference.

If you're not going straight into a roll after the landing, then a kong would have much more impact than a jump, solely because you're not only stopping your downward momentum, but your forward momentum too. There seems to be an incorrect general consensus, like with what David Johnson said, "With the kong vault, you're moving forward a lot more, less downward momentum to deal with." Simply adding forward momentum does not take away downward momentum. X and Y are completely independent of one another, so by increasing or decreasing one, you cannot increase or decrease the other.

However, if you're going into a roll, you get a MUCH more efficient roll when you're moving forward than when you go into a roll from a dead stop. Also, with the roll, barely any of your forward momentum is translated into impact, because you're still moving forward when you roll.