Does a person's height affect how far they can jump?

Answer 1

Let's put it this way...

Large people are naturally stronger than small people. This is because muscle strength is generally proportional to length. Of course there are lots of things that can modify this innate ability.

Small people naturally weigh less that large people. Mass tends to correspond with volume, so it makes sense that people with less volume have less to move around.

This means that small people tend to have a heigher strength-to-weight ratio than large ones. Since strength is linearly dependant on height and volume will tend to follow a cube relationship instead of a linear one, the smaller you are the better this ratio will be. Thus spiders can easily lift several hundred times their weight, most acrobats are short, but the real strong-men are quite tall.

Jumpers, then, would want to be small to have less weight to move around, but would also benefit from being as large as possible so they could move farther in raw distance. They probably end up being of middle heights for that reason (and probably getting much of it from their legs!).

So to answer your question... yes, height probably makes a significant difference to a jumper!

Answer 2

if everything else remains constant then yes. more height = more weight. without extra muscle mass, you will jump less, but you will also be a bit closer on the vertical and not need to jump as far.

Answer 3

Of course. Don't you think Michael Jordan can jump further than a midget?

Answer 4

Yes,the longer your legs (given the law of averages) the further you can jump. Long jump, hurdles,etc..