Monday, June 2, 2008

The work-energy theorem

Given that my net displacement is zero on my run, and I maintain (roughly) a constant kinetic energy, then according to the work-energy theorem, I should be just as tired at the end of my run as I am at the beginning.  That was what my brain was telling me, as I struggled through the last leg of my run today.  Clearly my brain had failed to take into account the energy lost due to friction and, more importantly, the inefficiencies in the biochemical reactions which power my run.  That probably explains why I wasn't too comforted by the analysis.  :)

Again, 8 min run/2 min walk x 3, but I did feel better than yesterday.  I saw a large caterpillar, which I thought I'd bring back to look in our new microscope, but I had no way of carrying it, and didn't want to be cleaning out a squished caterpillar from my pockets.


2 comments:

Serenity said...

Wow, that entry made me actually laugh out loud . . . twice!

-Lucy

Bill said...

I love the work-energy argument. It reminds me of the weird physical conundrums that I was always calling you about from St. John's!

Mushy caterpillar might be pretty interesting to look at under a microscope, eh? Of course, might be upsetting for the girls. (EEEEKK!)