Re: reaction time

[Michael Porter <mporter@ccs.carleton.ca>]

Alex. F. Burr wrote:
> a question was raised as to olympic reaction time. I do not know what
> the fastest reaction time is but an average time is of the order of
> > 0.2 sec. It seems to me that it would take a pretty good experiment
> to show that the best reaction times were half the size of average.
> A reaction time of 0.08 is the equivalent of catching the ruler
> before it fell 3.2 cm.

On the Olympics web site, there is an interesting area where you can 
view the composite photos taken at the finish line.  The information at 
the bottom of the image includes the reaction time at the start of the 
race.  The Men's 100 m dash can be viewed at:

<http://atlanta.olympic.org/acog/multimedia/swatch/d-sw-072896002.html>

At the bottom of the image, it can be seen that the best reaction time 
at the start was 0.143 seconds.  Donovan Bailey, the winner, had a 
reaction time of 0.174 seconds.

I was reading in the CNN web page that the "less than 0.1 s = false 
start" rule had Linford Christie as one of its proponents when it was 
brought in five years ago.

<http://cnn.com/SPORTS/9607/28/christie.wir/index.html>

Ironic!  

Mike

Michael Porter
Gloucester High School
Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
mporter@ccs.carleton.ca