The Physics Factbook™
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The purpose of this experiment is to measure the acceleration of the foot, the waist, the chest, and the forehead during various movements.
Acceleration is the change of velocity over time. In order to accelerate an object, in this case the body parts, one must use a force to bring about the change in movement. More force equals more acceleration, and each movement requires a different amount of force to perform. Therefore movements that require more force to perform will have a greater acceleration. Acceleration can be easily measured by an accelerometer.
The following graphs show the acceleration perturbations of some daily activities. (Click to enlarge.)
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| hop | one foot jump | frog jump |
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| walk | jog | run |
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| toe lift | ||
This data shows the acceleration of several parts of the body during various movements. In order to find the maximum acceleration, we used the graphs for each movement.
| Body Part |
Peak Accelerations (m/s2) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Foot Jump | Frog Jump | Hop | Jog | Run | Toe Lift | Walk | |
| Foot | 56.15 | 56.15 | 56.41 | 29.57 | 56.41 | 3.648 | 11.82 |
| Waist | 34.02 | 54.39 | 33.77 | 21.5 | 41.44 | 6.176 | 4.105 |
| Chest | 45.87 | 54.54 | 36.99 | 28.82 | 54.96 | 5.841 | 2.454 |
| Head | 37.34 | 18.75 | 27.65 | 14.14 | 40.95 | 3.947 | 2.295 |
The red values indicate the maximum acceleration for each of the body parts, and indicates the movement that brought about the acceleration. The green values indicate the minimal acceleration for each body part, and indicates the movement that brought about the acceleration.
| Body Part |
Peak Accelerations (m/s2) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Foot Jump | Frog Jump | Hop | Jog | Run | Toe Lift | Walk | |
| Foot | 56.15 | 56.15 | 56.41 | 29.57 | 56.41 | 3.648 | 11.82 |
| Waist | 34.02 | 54.39 | 33.77 | 21.5 | 41.44 | 6.176 | 4.105 |
| Chest | 45.87 | 54.54 | 36.99 | 28.82 | 54.96 | 5.841 | 2.454 |
| Head | 37.34 | 18.75 | 27.65 | 14.14 | 40.95 | 3.947 | 2.295 |
The accelerometer might not have been completely vertical, therefore making the reading less than if it was vertical. The movement of clothing while performing the activities could skew the data by either decreasing or increasing the acceleration.
James Kim, Maté Nagy -- 2006
Haven't had enough of this topic? Check out the original 2005 entry on Acceleration Perturbations of Everyday Living.
Students Choice pages in The Physics Factbook™ for 2006
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