Why a Wise Cyclist Carries His Load on the Bicycle: Understanding Centre of Mass

[QueenFisher]

why is it that a wise cyclist carries his load in packs on his bicycle intead of on her back? this is a poor question because of an assumption it makes.

i understand that by carrying the load on the bicycle instead of on his back the cyclist lowers the ecntre of mass so that it is harder for her to fall over (and so safer), but i can't work out the assumption and I'm sure it's a really obvious one...any pointers??

 

[Hootenanny]

Hmm, I don't know it's an interesting question. Nothing initally jumps out. Maybe somehting to do with the distribution of the packs on the bike? I;m just guessing here though! Just out of interest which syllibus are you following?

 

[berkeman]

What is your definition of a wise cyclist? Tour de France level or commuter level?

How heavy of a pack, and how big? Does the cyclist need to access it easily while riding (like for food and drink)?

 

[QueenFisher]

the question is only what i posted so i suppose the assumption can be deduced from it (except that i can't think of it!)

syllabus: AS level AQA

 

[Hootenanny]

I do AQA, I'm now doing A2, it's a really interesting course. The only thing I can think of is it assumes the packs are distributed about the bike so as not to create any turning moments and de-stablise the bike.

 

[QueenFisher]

meaning it's in equilibrium?

how difficult is the A level as copared to AS? I've looked at the syllabus and it looks a bit complicated

 

[Hootenanny]

Yes.

A2 is less volume more detail. If you do Mechanics M2 you'll find the SHM, circular motion stuff easy. The wave stuff is fairly straight forward as is the gravitationaland electromagentic forces, the only thing I found difficult was the magnetic fields. The nuclear instability is also quite easy. We did the Applied physics optional module and its really interesting.

 

[QueenFisher]

yeah I'm doing M2 at the mo (even though i won't take the exam til next year...) what's the applied physics module about? i think I'm going to be doing that

 

[Hootenanny]

Bit of rotational dynamics - moments of inertia etc. Thermodynamics, 1st and 2nd laws, pressure volumes curves, adiabatic expansion, the internal combustion engine.

 

[QueenFisher]

oh yeah. lots to look forward to :)