The same formula, taken in the opposite sense, of
course, shows how fast a body must start from a planet in order that it
may be freed from its control. The formula is V = square root of (2
gr.), in which "g" is the acceleration of gravity, equal for the earth
to 32 feet in a second, and "r" is the radius of the attracting body. On
Menippe I knew "g" must equal about one twentieth of a foot, and "r"
31,680 feet. Like a flash I applied the formula while the giant's
muscles were yet tightening for the kick: 31,680 x 1/20 x 2 = 3,168, the
square root of which is a fraction more than 56. Fifty-six feet in a
second, then, was the critical velocity with which I must be kicked off
in order that I might never return. I perceived at once that the giant
would be able to accomplish it. I turned and shouted up at him:
"Hold on, I have something to say to you!"
I dimly saw his mountainous face puckered into mighty wrinkles, out of
which his eyes glared fiercely, and the next moment I was sailing into
space. I could no more have kept a balance than the earth can stand
still upon its axis. I had become a small planet myself, and, like all
planets, I rotated. Yet the motion did not dizzy me, and soon I became
intensely interested in the panorama of creation that was spread around
me. For some time, whenever my face was turned toward the little globe
of Menippe, I saw the giant, partly in profile against the sky, with his
back bent and his hands upon his knees, watching me with an occasional
approving nod of his big head.
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