RE: Engineering 101 - Was:[ST] New Member

[Martin Waltman <marty_rw@xxxxxxxxx>]

The simplest experiment is to take a rock and a piece
of jello out to the pavement and see witch one slides
further the jello would represent the human body and
the rock the bike. A bike is made up of hard smooth
parts and only the ends touch the pavement so with
less surface area the bike doesn't slow as much, this
changes if there is actually something for the pegs or
pointy objects to dig into. The mass of the bike also
helps keep the momentum going. On the other hand the
human body is made of mostly soft sticky material, the
leather and gear we use helps keep the soft material
in place. But when we hit the ground the body gives
and we have maximum surface contact and a lower mass
than the bike. The 2 combined make for a more rapid
deceleration and thus a quicker stop.

Long winded way of saying we're the jello, the bike is
the rock.

Martin
01 ST blue


- --- Bil Swartz <bil@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Feb 2004, Rich Weyand wrote:
> 
> > I think it is simply that the bikes slide on
> pavement better than
> > people do.  When you hit the pavement, you stick
> pretty good, as the
> > leather and denim at your contact points with the
> pavement have pretty
> > good friction.  The bike slides pretty easily once
> the rubber pieces
> > are off the road, sliding easily both on the
> pavement and on your
> > clothing, so the bike slows down less and slides
> right off of you.  
> > At least this is what happened with my low side a
> couple years back.
> 
> To add my non-physics uneducated post, I'd have to
> guess that mass has
> more to do with why the bike keeps going further
> than your body does.  You
> may be onto something there with the cordura and
> kevlar hooking up a
> little though, but I can tell ya' first hand that
> denim doesn't provide
> any abrasion resistance and will be "gone" before it
> has a chance to slow
> you down any.  Additionally the pegs and bars
> digging into the
> pavement should help slow the bike alot making me
> think mass does have
> alot to do with the why the bike keeps going.  
> 
> Physics majors?  Engineers? 
> 
> -- 
> 
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