Enough power to lite up a city block! 
http://archives.cbc.ca/dossier.asp?page=1&IDDossier=1392&IDCat=371&IDCatPa=263
What do you guys think about the comment āEnough power to lite up a city blockā.
A pretty good hyperbolic metaphor, but also ridiculous.
I donāt know about the science of that particular comment, but I found the whole video to be quite interesting. in fact, there were several good clips on that site.
ben seemed like a really cool guyā¦ 
U never know my friend. Look like big ben was having a hard time with the 315 on the bench press.
3500W is pretty incredible if itās really just the force heās using to bring his leg forward. A typical kettle uses 1000-1500W. Apparently only three people on the city block are allowed to make tea at once :).
Enough power to light up multiple kettles doesnāt quite have the same ring to it.
Saying that Carl Lewis can light up 2 city blocks on a LJ takeoff doesnāt have quite the same ring to it either 
I donāt suppose anyone knows the ground contact time of elite long jumpers off-hand (of their jumping step).
Well I only found one article that discussed ground contact time, and it was 0.13 seconds for non-elite jumpers. Using that number, I made some assumptions to suit my intrigue.
If a 70kg athlete achieves a vertical displacement of 1m (39 inches roughly), the athlete has to deliver 243kg of force to the ground, and they produce 5300W of power.
If the 70kg athlete has a vertical displacement of 0.80m (31.5 inches), they have to deliver 217kg of force to the grond, and they produce 4200W of power.
If anyone has actual numbers (mass, ground contact time, and vertical displacement), Iāll happy tell you the ground forces needed.