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Originally Posted by EricH
Have you ever actually observed that F=m*a?
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Yeah, several labs in physics, and it's also a scientific law so I'm going to give it more credence than any other idea.
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Have you ever measured the coefficient of friction without using F=u*N?
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Yes. You can determine a coefficient of static friction by placing your traction material on the surface it's measured against (so a square of carpet), then rotating the surface with one side against the ground until the material slips. The tangent of the angle of your material is the coefficient of friction.
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Every time that we as engineers use an equation we've learned, we're parroting back stuff we heard from some guy.
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True, but "some guy" should generally be things determined by science that are easily verifiable!
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The only difference is that for these established equations, "some guy" is whoever wrote the textbook and whoever taught the classes. Sure, they've been backed up by decades or centuries of testing.
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This is the only reason they are given credence and you can't just brush that aside! It's the very basis of science as a whole
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But only a few tests have actually been run on wheel width vs. traction at the FRC level. I can only think of 2, and only 1 has actually been finished and put out there so far.
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So a good general policy is if we don't know, don't state things as fact, which was my original point.