Some days you are just so much more grateful for the little things in life- like electricity. I was so relieved to wake up and still see that my cell phone was charging. Despite our ice-covered power lines, we still have power. It was beautiful.
Thankfully, neither Nathan or I had to go to work today. Our friend Casey who has been solely biking for over a year now says that the physics of biking are not compatible with ice. At least that's what I heard- Nathan doesn't remember that. I think that is at least true if you don't have studs on your tires.
Either way, it's not too safe out there in the roads whether you are in a car or on a bike, so we stayed in for the day, except for a little trip down the street to Nathan's brother's house. We bundled up for the five block walk and were glad that we had our rain-proof biking pants to wear in the snow.
There is at least a quarter inch of ice on everything and snow was falling. It was amazingly quiet on our typically busy street. A great day for walking.
It's so nice to have winter weather that's not incredibly destructive.
It didn't look nearly as bad as the ice storm two years ago.
I'm afraid our little car is feeling neglected. We don't feel sorry for it though.
Nathan is practically waterproof.
And I'm thankful for a day to rest my muscles. They were getting pretty weary.
Kristin
Casey is right. Recall that physics class you took? Remember the idea of angular momentum and something about gyroscopes precessing? When one brakes the spinning wheel, the wheel attempts to rotate about an axis other than the axle. Only the wheel's grip on the road provides the countering force. If traction breaks (and if the front wheel is allowed to turn even slightly), a flipping force develops. Especially a problem for motorcycles, which have wheels with much larger moments of inertia than do bicycles. Cars have a long lever arm to the wheel on the opposite side to provide the correcting torque.
ReplyDeleteRoy
Very interesting. Thanks for the physics lesson. Physics is so interesting when it has to do with your own safety.
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