[QUOTE=Squink]
So what’s their frictional coefficient?
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We don’t really talk about coefficients of friction when the spikes actually penetrate the surface, since the main force resisting movement isn’t friction, it’s the bodies physically resisting each other.
>I seem to recall it as a foot per femto-second
It’s a foot per nanosecond.
I would think there is a statistical approach to this. I did some searching but have been unable to find a history of world records for this event. But if you found them and plotted them in a time series you could probably predict an asymptote.
There’s a graph in the Wikipedia article Men's 100 metres world record progression - Wikipedia . Noit sure if there are enough points there to find a precise trend. Perhaps if we had finishing times for all top class 100m events.
[QUOTE=Quercus]
Nano-, micro-, what’s three orders of magnitude between friends?
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I know, I know. That’s why I didn’t say, “Neener, neener, ya schlub.” I checked it three ways from Sunday myself and – notice – I still said 299.7+, not 29.97+ I probably wouldn’t have noticed myself had it not been for that film. It was a great visual presentation.
[QUOTE=Usram]
There’s a graph in the Wikipedia article Men's 100 metres world record progression - Wikipedia . Noit sure if there are enough points there to find a precise trend. Perhaps if we had finishing times for all top class 100m events.
[/QUOTE]
Hey, that’s a pretty good find.
Based on this data I would have predicted a limit of between 9.7 and 9.8 but the last couple years have taken a steep dive down. I know how to do linear and quadratic regression but I don’t know how to solve for an asymptotic trend. By eyeball it looks like there’s no clear limit.
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
Hey, that’s a pretty good find.
Based on this data I would have predicted a limit of between 9.7 and 9.8 but the last couple years have taken a steep dive down. I know how to do linear and quadratic regression but I don’t know how to solve for an asymptotic trend. By eyeball it looks like there’s no clear limit.
[/QUOTE]
Logarithms to get a straight line? I have always been fascinated by curve-fitting, maybe I’ll take a shot at this.
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth]
Logarithms to get a straight line? I have always been fascinated by curve-fitting, maybe I’ll take a shot at this.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure that we can determine anything from previous records. Although a correlation is likely, future advances in sports science are pretty unpredictable.
I strongly suspect that there will be some sort of advance in nutrition, muscle development or basic human physiology (gene therapy to promote fast-twitch muscle fiber growth, or something like that) which will render all this academic.
Right now, sprinters are limited by the fact that adding muscle adds weight, meaning that adding a pound of muscle mass may not actually improve one’s time at all.
Otherwise, sprinters would have gigantic grotesque leg development like bodybuilders, rather than more-or-less normal looking legs.
All I know is that it has been scientifically proven that human beings can never run a mile under four minutes.
I know, I know! That is an urban legend made up after Roger Bannister did the 4 minute mile, but I couldn’t resist.