Ricochet of bombard balls and a 700-pound ball's 28 bounces
Does bouncing lengthen a shot's path? With a wedge said to raise a mirror
The recto examines whether a bouncing projectile travels farther than one running smoothly, and argues that in every bounce the rise exceeds the descent, since the rise draws on the power of the blow while the fall follows its loss. Leonardo notes that near-flat rebound angles rob a bombard ball of force, and that a ball striking with great fury at m runs on tangent to a curved wall toward f without bouncing. As evidence he recalls seeing in the Duke of Milan's park a ball of some seven hundred small pounds fired to make 28 bounces whose heights fell in steady proportion. Lower on the leaf are mechanical sketches and a wedge n said to enter and raise a mirror; a large dotted spiral is drawn at the upper right.
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Does bouncing lengthen a projectile's path?
Leonardo asks whether a bounce prolongs the motion of the bouncing thing, and whether a body traveling in bounces covers more ground than one running its course simply and without bounces. The question opens the recto's study of ricochet.
Each bounce rises more than it falls
All motions born of impact or force are greater in the violent course than in the natural, having greater rise than descent. In each bounce of a struck or fired ball the rise exceeds the fall, because the rise is made by the favor of the blow's power while the descent is born from the loss of that favor.
A 700-pound ball's 28 bounces in the Duke's park
Leonardo recalls seeing in the park (barco) of the Duke of Milan a ball weighing some seven hundred small pounds and one braccio high fired to make 28 bounces, whose successive bounces stood to their preceding ones in proportion to their rises, that is, to the heights of the bounces.
Flat rebound angles waste the ball's force
If the impact of a bombard's balls were always paired with a rebound made at such large, near-flat angles, these would have very little force or effect. A ball striking with great fury at m is instead thought to run on with great velocity to f, without bouncing, staying tangent to the curved wall.
A wedge that enters and raises a mirror
A short note by the figure lettered n directs that all the middles lie along the central line, and that the wedge n always enters and raises the mirror against its illuminator.
Spiral figure and lower mechanisms
A large dotted spiral is drawn at the upper right of the leaf, with a rod or barrel above it. Below are table-mounted wheel-and-frame mechanisms and a screw-press assembly carrying a bowl.