Re: The military implications of different-G

:: Also, stability is decreased, which is not the case on slippery
:: ground. A horizontal push to a person standing on slippery ground
:: would cause sliding sidewards, not toppling. In low g, the stability
:: against toppling would decrease and people would tend to fall over
:: when they try to throw or shoot something.

: Eivind Kjorstad <eivindorama@xxxxxxxxx>
: No. That is wrong. True, you topple easier, but you *also* slide
: easier. The two are both reduced to exactly the same degree.

Hm. From another perspective, assume the coefficient of friction is
infinite, so the contacts are anchored against horizontal movement, but
are free to separate from the surface vertically (or, say there's a
small ridge preventing your foot from slipping horizontally). Then, you
start to topple when the horizontal force that results from the offset
of your rear foot and your center of mass is exceeded. For a given
geometry, if you pack on extra mass to get the same vertical force, you
get exactly the same horizontal force. (Is it not so?)

Then there's also the issue that you need to supply enough energy to move
your center of mass upwards enough to place it above the support
point, ie, if the center of mass is displace distance "h" horizontaly,
and distance "v" vertially from the rear foot, you need to raise your
center of mass from hight "v" to "sqrt(v^2+h^2)". Note that again,
if you pack on enough mass so that you are supporting the same vertical
load, this requires the same amount of energy.

( All this is presuming how *fast* you end up moving horizontally after
you reach the tipping point is irrelevant; if you loaded on more
mass, then for a given dsiplacing force, you'd be moving slower.
If that matters, you might be better off. )

( Also all this is presuming you manage to keep your center of mass in
the same place when you are adding your extra load; if it's a backpack,
that may well not be the case, unless you are very careful. And of
course if you add the extra load so as to *lower* your center of
mass, you are better off. )

This is distinct from inertial forces, such as "how far do you have to
lean over to take a curve of a given radius at a given speed", since
in that case, if you load on more mass to increase the force holding you
"down", you also increase the force pushing you "sideways" by the
same amount.

Wayne Throop throopw@xxxxxxxxx http://sheol.org/throopw
.

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