Question: What is the acceleration due to gravity at 40 degrees North latitude? How many seconds does it take to hit the ground when jumping from 15 meters?
Answer: Using the formula h = ½gt², the time (t) can be determined as t = √ (2h/g). Plugging in the given values, t = √ (2 × 15 / 9.8) seconds, which is approximately 1.75 seconds.
It takes approximately 1.75 seconds.
At a normal person's breathing rate, 1.75 seconds might not even be enough time for a full inhale and exhale. However, the exhilarating sensation of a freefall causes the heart rate to accelerate rapidly, while simultaneously... holding my breath. And releasing a flood of adrenaline.
Peter was in exactly this state. No, it was even stranger. The 1.75 seconds felt incredibly long. He could distinctly feel himself blinking, and he could see the dust on the ground that had accumulated from lack of foot traffic. He could see a few industrious worker ants struggling to move the corpse of a dead spider beneath a wooden plank.
Then, Peter even managed to turn his body in mid-air! He saw the row of heads peering over the beam above. Spider-Man Noir's face, hidden behind his mask, was unclear. Spider-Ham was still chewing his hot dog, but his eyes looked down past his pig snout. Middle-Aged Peter had his right hand extended, ready to shoot a web at any moment. Gwen's gaze was calm, but her finger was pressed to her web-shooter...
"Shoot your web!" Spider-Man Noir's voice rang out, jolting Peter out of his strange, hyper-aware state.
Peter instinctively pressed the web-shooter button in his palm. THWIP— A stream of white material shot from his wrist and stuck firmly to the ceiling.
Duang! Peter's body halted abruptly just an instant before hitting the floor, but this sudden conversion from extreme motion to absolute stillness only caused a slight discomfort, placing no excessive strain on his body.
Peter, however, didn't notice this subtle detail. Because, propelled by the initial thrust of the web-shooter, his body swung upward.
THUD!
Peter's body slammed heavily onto the ceiling, his limbs instinctively splaying out. And then, he was hanging there, perfectly adhered to!
His powers had finally activated! A marvelous new perspective! A whole new world!
Peter had expected to be ecstatic, but now, suspended from the ceiling in a non-human fashion, he found his mind utterly calm. It was as if this was where he truly belonged! This was his natural state!
SWOOP— A figure appeared beside Peter. It was Spider-Man Noir. From behind his mask, a tone of slight relief emerged: "Excellent! You did it!"
"Yes, thank you," Peter said with heartfelt gratitude. Without Noir's encouragement, he wasn't sure how long it would have taken him to make that jump.
"What about me?" Spider-Ham also zipped over. "Uh, of course, I thank you too," Peter chuckled.
"And me?" Gwen showed up to join the crowd. Peter: "...Alright, thank you as well."
SWOOP— Middle-Aged Peter also arrived near Peter. Peter quickly raised his hands: "You don't even need to say it, I thank you very much!"
"Hahaha—" The group burst into laughter.
SHWICK! Just then, whether due to his newly activated powers being unfamiliar or for some other reason, the bio-static on Peter's hands abruptly failed, and he dropped.
"Whoa!" Peter cried out, instinctively shooting a web. Using the taut pull of the web, he was yanked back toward the ceiling.
"Looks like you need a bit more practice," Gwen noted seriously.
"Alright, now, let's get back to that steel beam," Spider-Man Noir said, hanging by one hand from the ceiling, pointing downward with the other, looking completely relaxed. Peter envied this ease. Currently, without grabbing a web, he only felt secure if both his hands and feet were firmly pressed against the ceiling. Otherwise, he was liable to fall as he just had.
He pressed his hands and feet to the ceiling, turned his head to estimate the distance to the beam below, and then... Peter leaped, launching himself like a sprung spider, dropping rapidly toward the beam.
CLANK! Peter's hand slammed hard onto the beam, and he gasped in pain. He had overshot the jump due to using too much force. Instinctively reaching out to grab the beam, he ended up hitting it solidly.
Peter immediately let go of the beam. Just then, a soft hand reached out and grasped his wrist. Peter looked up; it was Gwen. Gwen exerted a slight upward pull. Peter used that momentum to hoist himself back onto the beam.
"Thanks," Peter said gratefully after letting go. Gwen smiled lightly: "No problem. Now hurry up and practice. Once The Gadget is ready, we'll be confronting the big boss, Kingpin."
"Right!" Peter nodded repeatedly.
As the saying goes, the first time is awkward, the second is familiar. With the initial success of shooting a web and wall-crawling behind him, the second, third, and subsequent attempts came quickly. This time, without needing any prodding, Peter adjusted himself and willingly leaped off the beam again.
Thanks to his experience playing Spider-Man video games, once he found the initial feel, his proficiency with the webbing began to increase rapidly. He quickly found immense pleasure in it. His figure soared back and forth through the abandoned warehouse. He even deliberately sought out obstacles to navigate, utilizing his increasingly smooth secondary power—Super-Agility.
Flight! It was the eternal dream of humanity. In the East, they rode swords; in the West, they rode brooms. And now, he could fly freely through the air using his webs! Even if he gained nothing else, this alone was priceless.
As Peter enjoyed his solo playtime, Spider-Man Noir, Middle-Aged Peter, and the others watched him. Middle-Aged Peter commented: "The guy's aptitude is pretty good. He's already got the hang of it!" Spider-Ham said: "I think his moves are cool... Oh, look at that mid-air flip! Amazing!" Gwen agreed: "His movements are like a dancer's, aerial footwork. While not perfect yet, the potential is huge... I think I'm starting to like him."
Spider-Man Noir shook his head: "It looks good, but there's too much showmanship... though for a beginner, I suppose he's passable."
"Hey, buddy, don't be so harsh. He just started," Middle-Aged Peter said. Noir shrugged: "Alright, I think it's good too. But I still need to correct his behavior. It's dangerous, and unnecessary to be so flashy."
After about half an hour, when Peter felt he had essentially mastered the coordination between his body and the webs, Noir called him to a stop. "Hey, Peter! If you keep playing like that, this whole place will be covered in webs, and we won't be able to stay!" Spider-Man Noir shouted.