On Weight: Flinging the Arms on a Balance
Will your weight grow light or heavy when you throw your arms up?
A full page of writing headed 'On weight.' Leonardo poses the case of a person standing on a balance in exact equilibrium with a counterweight who suddenly flings both arms upward while holding two weights, and doubts whether that person's weight will become light or heavy. He answers that it becomes light, because the motion reaching its end wants to continue the impetus it began, so that it lifts away.
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Does flinging the arms make you lighter on a balance?
A person stands on a balance in exact equilibrium with an opposing counterweight, then flings both arms upward with force while holding two weights. Leonardo doubts whether the person's weight will become light or heavy, and concludes it becomes light because the ending motion wants to follow the impetus it began.