Physics debate

[DG99]

Yeah really weird, it’s such a small thing that a cable binding pulls downward as well as forward into the toe piece, yet it seems like all this fluffiness was about that? Weird.

[GrimSurfer]

Maybe it’s best for folks to swap out gear or make adjustments to it ad infinitum. Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

And popular wisdom on the internet is the most powerful magic of all. LOL

[Musk Ox]

This thread is like listening to your parents arguing.

Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

This is completely true.

I do not know the smallest thing about, say, the hydrodynamic processes relating to the way that glide is altered through subtle alterations to the behaviour of water melted by friction under my wooden shoes at different temperatures, but I do know how to cork on Swix Polar and I know which snacks to take, and I do know that going up to the top of little mountains is the hobby that has brought me more joy than any other up to and including sex, and I'm happy to call that magic because it totally is.

[lilcliffy]

This thread is like listening to your parents arguing.

Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

This is completely true.

I do not know the smallest thing about, say, the hydrodynamic processes relating to the way that glide is altered through subtle alterations to the behaviour of water melted by friction under my wooden shoes at different temperatures, but I do know how to cork on Swix Polar and I know which snacks to take, and I do know that going up to the top of little mountains is the hobby that has brought me more joy than any other up to and including sex, and I'm happy to call that magic because it totally is.

I think this is the best post in this entire thread Master of Musk.

[wabene]

I did not know that bovidae could be so intelligent and humorous

[lowangle al]

This thread is like listening to your parents arguing.

Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

This is completely true.

I do not know the smallest thing about, say, the hydrodynamic processes relating to the way that glide is altered through subtle alterations to the behaviour of water melted by friction under my wooden shoes at different temperatures, but I do know how to cork on Swix Polar and I know which snacks to take, and I do know that going up to the top of little mountains is the hobby that has brought me more joy than any other up to and including sex, and I'm happy to call that magic because it totally is.

Sex would be a lot better if, like skiing, you could try out different "gear"

[DG99]

This thread is like listening to your parents arguing.

Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

This is completely true.

I do not know the smallest thing about, say, the hydrodynamic processes relating to the way that glide is altered through subtle alterations to the behaviour of water melted by friction under my wooden shoes at different temperatures, but I do know how to cork on Swix Polar and I know which snacks to take, and I do know that going up to the top of little mountains is the hobby that has brought me more joy than any other up to and including sex, and I'm happy to call that magic because it totally is.

Sex would be a lot better if, like skiing, you could try out different "gear"

I hear people do that, but it seems to conflict with ingrained jealousy and possessiveness people have! Yikes!

[DG99]

I’m going to ask my daughter about all this. She’s a high school physicist, does very well at it. Lately she’s working on replicating the Cavendish experiment. Or some variation on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment

I’m sure she can tell us the correct answers. Like, is there spring tension in a cable binding?

[GrimSurfer]

I’m going to ask my daughter about all this. She’s a high school physicist, does very well at it. Lately she’s working on replicating the Cavendish experiment. Or some variation on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment

I’m sure she can tell us the correct answers. Like, is there spring tension in a cable binding?

If you ask the question properly, like “what is the difference between tension and net force”, she might be able to explain it to you. Because the issue isn’t about whether there is tension… of course there is. It is whether that tension imparts a net force on its own, which it does not.

[TallGrass]

Nobody needs to understand how anything actually works before using it. Trust in magic. It is powerful.

I do not know the smallest thing about, say, the hydrodynamic processes relating to the way that glide is altered ... but I do know how to cork on Swix Polar and I know which snacks to take, and I do know that going up to the top of little mountains is the hobby that has brought me more joy ...

Ahh, bliss...

It's like a flashback to Page 14 (and possibly earlier)

* Understanding physics is not a prerequisite to using them, ala a baby doesn't have understand "inverted pendulums" nor "shifting pivot points" in order to walk on two feet.

Yet there is a limit to "feel" which can involve safety, injury.

For example, many people "think" or "feel" they initiate a left-turn on a bicycle by turning the handlebars left, when in fact it is to the right (i.e. Counter-Steering) because it first has to lean to the left, kind of like pulling the rug out from under someone to the right will make them fall to their left.

The sheer number of kids riding bikes shows both that adaptability of the human brain with regard to complex movements involving balance and control, and the lack of awareness or understanding of the mechanisms involved.

"So what?" you say? Well, when that kid gets older and gets larger, heavier motorcycle, they can also get by puttering around... Until a car backs out of a driveway on the right, the rider "thinks" they "steer" a bike so turns the bars left, which only makes them T-bone the Toyota instead of swerving around it.


What about a tele-skier trying to avoid a tree, cliff, or just avoid going off into deep powder (*flail, flail, flail*)?

Statistically (think accident reports, fatal or otherwise), these things are significant, and the "cure" has been better understanding, teaching, etc. which at some point has to be rooted in science -- that which allows for empirically predictive cause-effect.

No offense to Tom, and I understand the "I like to think there's a bit of magic* " appeal, however a ski with a scale on either end being 1. pulled into a wall by 2. a person pulling a tether who's standing next to it, is not going to get "closed system" results due to said "open system" interference. Similar results would occur with an alpine binding (fixed heel), or 6-foot 2x4 with a string pulling forward on a 1-foot block bolted to the middle. Barring single-ski teleskiing, a better set up would be four (4) scales supporting the front and rear of each ski of a skier, linked to a computer graphing in real time each scale's reading which at any point of rest should be the same sum, and for any "event" (jump, squat, shift), be the same average sum over the duration.

* Magic...

See 3:54 where Bob Barker hosts psychic James Hydrick who demonstrates his abilities which are then subjected to a simple test by James Randi in front of a panel of scientists.


Interesting how small things, even seemingly imperceptible, can have an effect.

This shows more of Hydrick doing things other things like making a pencil balanced on the edge of a table turn (I'd prefer it without the commentary ...)



I asked a ski instructor what they would call two parts of a ski. The point that sticks up to ride over snow, "tip", and part contacting the snow just behind it, "front." Make of that what you will.


I doubt anyone here disagrees that 1. canting your foot's toes down will likewise cant a boot+ski "fixed" (ala alpine) to it downward at the front, 2. if there is a frictionless free pivot (FFP) between the boot and ski and sufficient range of motion (RoM) that the ski will remain parallel to it's prior position (Newtons 1st Law), and 3. that a piece of rubber in between a point of FFP and a hard stop (limit of RoM), there will be a scale-able transtion from it acting like a pivot (0%) between two pieces, to a lever (100%) with the two acting as one unit.

I just hope that people don't get the wrong "ideas" which leads to this ...


... instead of something more like this.



Hope everyone gets some in some good turns, and has safe re-turns.