Real-Life Math
Kinesiologists, whether they're working in a clinic or research
department, must have good math skills and a good understanding of physics.
"In
the research area of their training, they could do different types of calculations
for physiology experiments or statistics," says Rick Roach, a kinesiologist.
At
your clinic, you're working with a world-class gymnast. You're interested
in his body movements on the bar and how his gravitational centre changes
in the different moves. On your computer, you examine the gymnast's movement,
screen by screen.
You find minute areas where his posture and movements
could be improved.
Much to your surprise, during one of
the new moves the gymnast is trying on the bars, he slips and falls to the
floor. In order to figure out what went wrong, you must do several calculations.
The
first thing you want to know is how long it took for him to fall. This will
be important when you examine the move -- you must figure out if the move
is possible for him to execute correctly or if it's beyond his ability.
Formula
The
variables are:
t = the time of the fall
d = the distance
of the fall
g = the gravitational constant. This is the acceleration
which gravity imparts to a freely falling object in the absence of air resistance
or friction. This is always 32.2 feet per second2 (The weight
of the object has no influence on g. So if the distance an object falls is
known, the time taken for the fall can be calculated.)
Here's the formula
you'll be using:
time = the square root of [d / (0.5 x g)]
If
the gymnast falls 9 feet, how long does it take him to fall?