A while back I got some info here about calcualting centrifugal force. Taken from a discussion that took place in march. Since then I've been messing around with a problem that is making me nuts.
I'm trying, so far unsuccessfully to figure out a little problem. I'm having a debate with another fellow about the benefits of a running product pictured and explained here.
The disagreement is based on the idea that the runner in the track will have to somehow accelerate faster (move the legs faster or more explosively) than a similar runner on flat land wearing extra mass.
My argument, albeit probably flawed is this. F=M*A, it shouldn't matter whether or not the runner has to overcome twice the acceleration or twice the mass. His response was the track is similar to someone bench-pressing the mass at twice the acceleration. In other words the bench presser would have to move the arms faster in order to
accelerate the force to get the 2x acceleration vs the same person benching two times the mass. My example was to take the same person bench-pressing on one planet with 2x the mass and then the same person on another planet with 1x the mass and 2x the gravitational force. In this scenario both situations would have the same force with the same
speed of arm movement etc.
Intuitively, although my intuition has been off with this type of stuff many times, I suspect that the situation is more similar to my scenario than his, however he seems to have a much stronger grasp than I do on the physics of the situation. My reasoning is the acceleration
in the circular track is provided via the velocity of the runner running around the inside of the track. The centrifugal force created,is counteracted by the force created by the legs to next to the next
step. I also suspect that the path/trajectory taken by the runner is similar to that of a runner on a flat plane, difference being the main mass of the runner will always be perpendicular to the centripetal force rather than the gravitational force.
I've been messing with this thing so long now it's turning into a mud puddle so any help, links, info, comments, disparaging remarks are welcome.
~Matt
I'm trying, so far unsuccessfully to figure out a little problem. I'm having a debate with another fellow about the benefits of a running product pictured and explained here.
The disagreement is based on the idea that the runner in the track will have to somehow accelerate faster (move the legs faster or more explosively) than a similar runner on flat land wearing extra mass.
My argument, albeit probably flawed is this. F=M*A, it shouldn't matter whether or not the runner has to overcome twice the acceleration or twice the mass. His response was the track is similar to someone bench-pressing the mass at twice the acceleration. In other words the bench presser would have to move the arms faster in order to
accelerate the force to get the 2x acceleration vs the same person benching two times the mass. My example was to take the same person bench-pressing on one planet with 2x the mass and then the same person on another planet with 1x the mass and 2x the gravitational force. In this scenario both situations would have the same force with the same
speed of arm movement etc.
Intuitively, although my intuition has been off with this type of stuff many times, I suspect that the situation is more similar to my scenario than his, however he seems to have a much stronger grasp than I do on the physics of the situation. My reasoning is the acceleration
in the circular track is provided via the velocity of the runner running around the inside of the track. The centrifugal force created,is counteracted by the force created by the legs to next to the next
step. I also suspect that the path/trajectory taken by the runner is similar to that of a runner on a flat plane, difference being the main mass of the runner will always be perpendicular to the centripetal force rather than the gravitational force.
I've been messing with this thing so long now it's turning into a mud puddle so any help, links, info, comments, disparaging remarks are welcome.
~Matt
I m "THECOLLABORATOR" of Eng. Scuderi and I m The Webmaster of 
