- #1
- 7,008
- 10,465
Hi, please forgive my ignorance here; I barely have just a basic undergrad. training in physics:
I was trying to see if we can use physics to determine how much harder it is (say, by amount
of energy/calories spent; maybe someone can suggest a better measure? ) to climb stairs,
given the slope of the stairs, than it is to move the same distance horizontally, i.e., let's
model a right-angle triangle with sides a,b and hypotenuse c , so that c^2=a^2+b^2.
Say we have a constant slope θ. Can we use physics to determine how much harder is it to go along the length c of the hypotenuse than it is to move( by walking, of course) the same c units horizontally? Of course, we're oversimplifying in assuming the movement up the stairs is done
along a line; maybe there is a better way of modeling this?
Thanks.
I was trying to see if we can use physics to determine how much harder it is (say, by amount
of energy/calories spent; maybe someone can suggest a better measure? ) to climb stairs,
given the slope of the stairs, than it is to move the same distance horizontally, i.e., let's
model a right-angle triangle with sides a,b and hypotenuse c , so that c^2=a^2+b^2.
Say we have a constant slope θ. Can we use physics to determine how much harder is it to go along the length c of the hypotenuse than it is to move( by walking, of course) the same c units horizontally? Of course, we're oversimplifying in assuming the movement up the stairs is done
along a line; maybe there is a better way of modeling this?
Thanks.
Last edited: