Eur. Phys. J. B 30, 411-415 (2002)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2002-00397-0

Statistical test of throwing events on the rotating Earth

Lack of correlations between range and geographic location

¹ Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Eötvös University, PO Box 32, 1518 Budapest, Hungary
² Institute for Theoretical Physics, Eötvös University, PO Box 32, 1518 Budapest, Hungary

Corresponding author: ^a janosi@lecso.elte.hu

Received: 17 July 2002
Published online: 19 December 2002

Abstract

In a recent paper, Mizera and Horváth computed the effects of environmental factors on shot put and hammer throw ranges [J. Biomech. 35, (2002) 785–796]. They found that the geographic location (latitude and altitude) influences throwing distances as strongly as meteorological conditions (wind and air density). Considering the small differences in record-breaking results, they proposed that normalization to a reference stadium should be introduced. Here we attempt to detect possible correlations between geographic location and throwing ranges by using all-time best result lists. Unfortunately the separation of the effects of different environmental factors is not possible, simply because they are not documented. Our tests failed to find the expected correlation. We conclude that the variance of human factors seems to dominate, thus any correction of measured results is probably unnecessary.