Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Richard
Anyone else see the conceptual error here?
Force required to move an object is only equal to the object's weight if it's going up. Power to move a trailer carrying a 13 ton payload at 60 ft/sec (about 40 mph) roughly horizontally is certainly much less that 2831 HP.
|
But since the AP story indicates that only the trailer was removed and the truck was left behind, we have to remember that Mark is dragging the trailer full of Red Bull with him. Although Mark is strong, he is not quite super-human, so I considered that he is pulling the trailer with the front skid down to support some of the weight. So the trailer is not just a free-rolling system on a horizontal plane, but has considerable friction to overcome as the skids scrape along the ground. Without specific CoF data from the trailer/ground interactions, the worst case is assumed (ie. pure vertical movement) to provide the maximum bounding condition for the problem.
Besides, have you EVER seen Mark do anything that did not involve a significant change in altitude?!?!
-dave