Glenn Elert
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The Physics Factbook™
Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students
An educational, Fair Use website
topic index | author index | special index
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) | Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| De Pinna, Simon. Forces and Motion Austin, Texas: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1998. | "If you walk as fast as possible, you can probably walk at around 2 m/s and run at about 5 m/s." | 2.0 m/s |
| The World Book Encyclopedia. Volume 21. Chicago: World Book, 2000. | "A nonracer walks 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) in 15 to 20 minutes. A heel-and-toe expert can do it in 6.5 minutes" | 4.1 m/s |
| Lawson, Gerald. World Record Breakers in Track and Field Athletics. New York: Human kinetics, 1997. | "5000 m 18:51.2 Jozef Pribilinec (cs) Banska Bystrica 5 May 1981" | 4.42 m/s |
| Watman, Melvyn. The Encyclopedia of Athletics. London: Robert Hale, 1973. | "1959 D.J.Thompson 4 hr 12 min 19 sec." | 3.3 m/s |
| Fastest men's indoor 5,000-m walk. Guinness World Records, 2000. | "The record for the fastest men's indoor 5,000 m walk is held by Russia's Mikhail Shchennikov, with a time of 18 min. 7.08 sec. recorded in Moscow, Russia, on February 14, 1995." | 4.60 m/s |
Walking is defined as a progression of steps where one footmust always be in contact with the ground. The front foot mustmake contact with the ground before the rear foot can leave theground. The heel of the foot must touch the ground first and thetoes must be the last to touch the ground. For this reason, walkingis also called the "heel and toe"sport. The other rulein walking is that the advancing leg must be straight. This definitionof walking prevents competitors from running at competitions.Racewalkers are expected to follow these two rules.
Racewalking has been an official sport at the Olympics forover 90 years. Although it is not a popular track and field sportin the US compared to running or jumping. Racewalking distancesvary from 1 mile to 25 miles.
According to the World Book Encyclopedia, an expertwalker can walk one mile in 6.5 minutes. This is about 4.1 m/s.From the Forces and Motion book, we find that a fast walkercan walk around 2 m/s.
D.J. Thompson won for being the fastest walker back in 1958when he completed a 50,000 m walk in 4 hours, 12 minutesand 19 seconds. This means he walked at a speed of about3.3 m/s. On May 5, 1981, Joseph Pribilinec broke that recordand walked 5000 m in 18 minutes, and 51.2 seconds,walking at about 4.42 m/s.
As of January 2001, Mikhail Shchennikov holds the record forthe fastest 55000 m walk, which was recorded on February14, 1995. Shchennikov completed the 5000 m in 18 minutes,and 7.08 seconds with a speed of 4.60 m/s.
Connie Lau -- 2001
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