Cycling and high-jumping
Mar. 12th, 2012 09:39 amCycling
A human can cycle more than twice as fast as they can run. Does that mean that you could make a "bicycle" for a horse that could go a lot faster than a horse could run?
I assume that we wouldn't ask the animal to balance, so the frame might have to be larger. And if the animal is larger/faster to start with, and air resistance is a square or cube of velocity, it may not achieve the same number of times as fast. And a horse is probably a bad choice because it can be a bit skittish, but what would be best? Something trainable? Something good at kicking? Something with a high strength to weight ratio (which correlates strongly but imperfectly with land speed)?
People have tried putting monkeys on bikes and equines in treadmills. Has anyone ever tried to make a non-primate pedal powered vehicle built for speed?
High jump
Which animal can jump the highest in absolute terms? Human? Horse? Big cat? Dolphin or whale? Does it make a difference if you assume the basic idea of the high jump (ie. mostly measure centre of mass, but require a lot of dexterity to get over the bar)?
A human can cycle more than twice as fast as they can run. Does that mean that you could make a "bicycle" for a horse that could go a lot faster than a horse could run?
I assume that we wouldn't ask the animal to balance, so the frame might have to be larger. And if the animal is larger/faster to start with, and air resistance is a square or cube of velocity, it may not achieve the same number of times as fast. And a horse is probably a bad choice because it can be a bit skittish, but what would be best? Something trainable? Something good at kicking? Something with a high strength to weight ratio (which correlates strongly but imperfectly with land speed)?
People have tried putting monkeys on bikes and equines in treadmills. Has anyone ever tried to make a non-primate pedal powered vehicle built for speed?
High jump
Which animal can jump the highest in absolute terms? Human? Horse? Big cat? Dolphin or whale? Does it make a difference if you assume the basic idea of the high jump (ie. mostly measure centre of mass, but require a lot of dexterity to get over the bar)?