🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3p7p6o$44l@news.sas.ab.ca> vschmid@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca () writes:

>   drizzt (drizzt@cml.com) wrote:
>   : My original question as to how fast superman could run seems to have been 
>   : misunderstood because a few people wrote me suggesting that on the moon 
>   : or in outer space, he could run at the speed of light.  That would be 
>   : flying and not RUNNING.  I'm more concerned with Superman being able to 
>   : push off of the ground with a pair of Nike airs without falling down due 
>   : to inertia and how long he has to wait before taking each step because 
>   : gravity takes time to pull him back down from each step.  
>   
>   Assuming Superman would control his upward movement, then the speed that 
>   Superman could run at and keep contact with the Earth would be escape 
>   velocity (which, if memory serves, is approximately 25,000 miles per 
>   hour).  My reasoning:  if Superman would run like Michael Jackson 
>   moonwalks, then each running "leap" (or forward movement) that occurs 
>   just under escape velocity would keep Superman in contact with Earth; any 
>   amount faster than that, and Superman would begin to leave Earth.
>   
>   This assumes, of course, that Superman could find a route that is 
>   absolutely spherical with surfaces Superman can run on.  (Can Superman 
>   float?)

Still, at some speed probably less than 25,000 mph (and less than 17,000
mph, which is orbital velocity), the forces due to air resistance would
exceed the frictional force his feet can make with the ground.

For example, if superman weighs 300 lbs and his feet make contact with
the ground with coefficient of friction of 2 (a very high value), then
when air resistance reached 600 lbs, he would be able to run no faster.
That would happen between somewhere between 250 and 300 mph -- still
quite slower than a speeding bullet.

--
|         (V)              |  "Tiger gotta hunt.  Bird gotta fly.
|   (^    (`>              |   Man gotta sit and wonder why, why, why.
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|  (\\<   )   der Nethahn  |   Man gotta tell himself he understand."
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|     ( /                  |                Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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|      ^           hahn@lds.loral.com          my opinions need not be Loral's