Investigating The Energy Needed to Stay in Balance

I was reading Lars Clausen's update today. He had a link to George
Winter's web page which includes a lengthy article about 'Investigating
The Energy Needed to Stay in Balance'
(http://www.glacierview.net/geowinters/balancePage.html).

I searched and didn't find mention of it yet on RSU. This deserves
mention.


--
UniBrier - Its Time to Ride

Steve DeKoekkoek

Hop Drop & Roll



------------------------------------------------------------------------
UniBrier's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1404
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

I notice the uncredited photo of Pete during his record-break. Wonder
whose that is...seems like it can only be from you, me, JC, or Suzanne.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

"By George! The man's a genius!"
Murde Mental

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

I just checked your gallery, I think its JC's.

It is also not clear whether he realized Pete's uni was geared up.

Small complaints for a pretty interesting article. I'm sure a polite
e-mail would clear things up.


--
UniBrier - Its Time to Ride

Steve DeKoekkoek

Hop Drop & Roll



------------------------------------------------------------------------
UniBrier's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1404
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

UniBrier wrote:
*Small complaints for a pretty interesting article. I'm sure a polite
e-mail would clear things up. *

Wasn't complaining, just commenting. Attribution is a nice habit for a
writer to get into.

It does look like an intersting read...will have to glance through it
tonight over a cold malted beverage.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

"By George! The man's a genius!"
Murde Mental

------------------------------------------------------------------------
tomblackwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3762
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

I have a question about the overall stability diagram of a unicycle:

is it true that the seatpost is vertical? (my answer : look at pictures
.. it is'nt)

does the resultant weight vector applies at the contact of tyre and road
? (my guess: no .. it's in front of the wheel , that's part of the
strange dynamics of it all)

but I may be wrong ....


--
wobbling bear - GranPa goes-a-wobblin'

One Wheel : bear necessity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
wobbling bear's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3716
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

wobbling bear wrote:
*I have a question about the overall stability diagram of a
unicycle:

is it true that the seatpost is vertical? (my answer : look at
pictures .. it is'nt)

does the resultant weight vector applies at the contact of tyre and
road ? (my guess: no .. it's in front of the wheel , that's part of
the strange dynamics of it all)

but I may be wrong .... *


One (and perhaps the most important) force vector applies at the contact
point of the tire and the road. There are several force vectors in a
problem involving a unicycle and rider but this is the one to which I
think you are referring.

A line drawn from the center of mass of the entire system to the center
of the earth, while moving forward at a constant velocity, intersects a
point in the road that lies in front of the contact point of the tire
and the road. This is the point to which I think you are referring.


--
harper - TANKED at GASWORKS

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

"My world view has come crashing down like a drunk clown on a giraffe,
riding through a cactus patch..." -evil-nick on "Entry of the
Gladiators"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
harper's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/426
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

Energy needed to stay in balance? You need energy to correct your
balance. Imagine a small tree in a tub - it stands there, requiring no
energy to stay in balance. It wobbles a little bit, and takes only a
small amount of energy to re-stabilise it. It wobbles a lot and starts
to fall, and it takes a lot of energy to stand it up again.

The perfect unicyclist expends very little energy staying in balance
because (s)he is always balanced. Beginners wear themselves out trying
to stay balanced.

On a longish ride this evening, I found myself forgetting I was riding,
and contemplating all sorts of irrelevancies. I can now ride on auto
pilot almost indefinitely. When I took up riding, one of the things
that attracted me to it was the 100% focus it required - at a time when
I needed a diversion from problems in my life.


--
Mikefule - The first cuckoo of unicycling

Sumer is icomen in, loud sing Mikefule!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikefule's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/879
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

"harper" writes:

A line drawn from the center of mass of the entire system to the center
of the earth, while moving forward at a constant velocity, intersects a
point in the road that lies in front of the contact point of the tire
and the road.

Huh?

Such a force constitutes to a torque acceletaring the wheel in
the forward direction. If the rider opposes such a torque (by
opposing the natural motion of the pedals), then the rider will move
forward relative to the wheel.

Unless there is another external force (wind?) acting on the system,
the unicycle is not in balance when the center of mass is not directly
above the contact patch.

Ken

Ken Cline wrote:
*

Unless there is another external force (wind?) acting on the system,
the unicycle is not in balance when the center of mass is not directly
above the contact patch.

Ken *


Yes, you are correct. I would at least have to change "velocity" to
"acceleration" to make my statement correct. To get the point across and
not be incorrect, I would have to word it entirely differently. Who
wants to move a unicycle forward with constant acceleration? Away we go,
faster and faster.


--
harper - TANKED at GASWORKS

-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

"My world view has come crashing down like a drunk clown on a giraffe,
riding through a cactus patch..." -evil-nick on "Entry of the
Gladiators"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
harper's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/426
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709

harper wrote:
*Who wants to move a unicycle forward with constant acceleration? Away
we go, faster and faster. *


I do! I do!

Oh, wait, gravity does that for me.


--
maestro8 - Mad Scientists for World Domination

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
------------------------------------------------------------------------
maestro8's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7871
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/39709