Friends have asked me why do the characters playing the role of ninjas in the anime series Naruto run with their upper bodies tilted forward and their arms trailing behind them .
My explanation is thermodynamics er, excuse me po! I mean aerodynamics. It uses the same principle as skiers do when skiing at high speeds. Smaller body profile means smaller air resistance and increased speed.
Our upper body is a big flat wall (even if you are as thin as the loved and revered Mahatma Gandhi during his protest). And like all big flat walls, it resists air flow -- can you feel your wide high rise buildings tremble during windy days?
But the principles of aerodynamics is not the only one that helps you run faster. Gravity has the same effect as well.
When running with your upper body tilted forward, your center of gravity moves to the area forward of your feet. This will place you off balance which naturally requires you to put a foot forward to regain you balance. Add to that the pushing effect of your trailing foot that once more places the center of gravity ahead of your leading-catch-the-balance foot. Repeating this cycle at an increased pace moves your body forward at an increasing speed.
And that my friends is the explanation to how Naruto and his friends reach impossible speeds using the upper-body-tilted-forward posture. :)
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Great outdoors - walking in the rain
Right now, the Philippines is experiencing rains... It is rainy season with moments of summer...
During college, a friend and I were contemplating on how we could cross from one building to next to attend our classes. He was deep in thought while I was busy observing the quality of female students when he said, "It will be much better for us to walk through the drizzle than run as fast as we can to the next building."
An then he continued on to explain that walking through the drizzle or even light rain means that our bodies will get in contact with fewer droplets than when we run.
Here is the "scientific" explanation to his concept:
You have 10 droplets lined up level with one another 1 foot apart in a straight line moving downward at the same speed. When you walk through them as they drop, you will only get hit by one or two of them. But if you run through them, you will hit about half of them before they hit the ground.
Similarly, you hit a few droplets walking through a rain than running across it.
In a heavy downpour, however, the volume of droplets is so large that running will be the most prudent course of action.
I therefore conclude that the speed at which a person should traverse an open are during the rain is directly proportional to the amount of downpour. As such, light rain will required slow speed and heavy rain requires racing speed.
:)
During college, a friend and I were contemplating on how we could cross from one building to next to attend our classes. He was deep in thought while I was busy observing the quality of female students when he said, "It will be much better for us to walk through the drizzle than run as fast as we can to the next building."
An then he continued on to explain that walking through the drizzle or even light rain means that our bodies will get in contact with fewer droplets than when we run.
Here is the "scientific" explanation to his concept:
You have 10 droplets lined up level with one another 1 foot apart in a straight line moving downward at the same speed. When you walk through them as they drop, you will only get hit by one or two of them. But if you run through them, you will hit about half of them before they hit the ground.
Similarly, you hit a few droplets walking through a rain than running across it.
In a heavy downpour, however, the volume of droplets is so large that running will be the most prudent course of action.
I therefore conclude that the speed at which a person should traverse an open are during the rain is directly proportional to the amount of downpour. As such, light rain will required slow speed and heavy rain requires racing speed.
:)
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