Questions on motion, weight, force and blow
Falling bodies, a coiled rope's weight, the barber's candlestick holder, and two men bearing a corpse.
A page of mechanical questions and propositions on motion, weight, force and blow. Leonardo asks whether the parts of a divided staff fall at proportional speeds, why a coiled rope weighs less than an extended one, and whether the heavier of two balls falls faster. A small marginal sketch of a hinged 'barber's candlestick holder' poses a question about where a suspended load presses hardest, and a closing problem asks how two men bearing a two-hundred-pound corpse on a carpet share the load.
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Falling the two parts of a divided staff
A three-braccia staff of even thickness and weight is divided into a two-braccia and a one-braccio piece. Dropped straight down together from the same height, Leonardo claims one will fall twice as fast as the other.
A rope weighs more extended than coiled
Weighing a rope stretched out and then coiled up, Leonardo says it proves heavier when extended, because coiled it 'finds greater resistance'.
Do heavier balls fall faster?
Two balls of the same material, one twice the weight of the other, are dropped together from the same height. He asks whether the larger falls in half the time of the smaller.
The barber's candlestick holder
A vertical rod carries a hinged Z-shaped extender bearing a round weight at its far end. Leonardo asks whether the weight drawn in close to the support presses more or less.
Two men bearing a corpse on a carpet
Two men suspend a dead man lying on a carpet. If the corpse weighs two hundred pounds, Leonardo asks what part of the force each of the pulling men provides.
Voice, motion, weight and blow
There is no voice without motion, and no motion without force; force is caused by the motion of weight, and the blow originates from weight and motion.