Cycling researchers probably find this page
looking for something like the chart above.
The most recent information (with Race
Category power stats) is found starting at the:
Super Simple Power to Weight Calculator
The remainder of this page was first
published: 09/23/2005
Recently I came across Einstein's famous
formula E=mc2 in some context or another. These days I
seem to be in the mood to test my understanding of all things I have
previously taken for granted.
I constantly look up words to make sure they
mean what I typically use them to mean, and this little formula struck me
as one of those words that I have always let slip by unchallenged.
Though I have had a basic understanding of
the theory of relativity since about the age of 11, plus a kernel of
realization regarding the equation's meaning, I decided to take another
look at it with the idea of solidifying my thoughts on the subject. Having
some time ago gotten the answer to "...the sound of one hand clapping," I
figured this little equation shouldn't pose much of a challenge.
In the blink of an eye I quickly questioned
each element in turn. First I looked at E.
Energy? Based on what scale? Joules, Amps,
Degrees Centigrade, Kelvin, Computrainer Watts? Just exactly what fucking
measure of Energy?
Ok, so m for mass is rather simple,
but c2? Why squared? Why not cubed? Why not larger? Why
not a little smaller. How
does one test this thesis which uses an already unobtainable speed
multiplied arbitrarily by itself?
Sounds like somebody just picked a number
out of the blue (so to speak) and said, "Well, this will absolutely insure
that the roots of the equation are so bizarre nobody will ever dare
test the underlying theory and call me on being the self taught idiot
asshole that I am sure that I am."
Pure genius. Most people still take this
formula as unassailable truth. An iconic utterance.
Sure enough, I went straight to Amazon and found
a book about the hooey factor embodied in Einstein's theory. So I am not
the only one who has noticed there's a problem here, and it somewhat confirms what I thought
about the whole idea when I sat at my Seventh Grade school desk and gave up
on it, then
stepped through a rudimentary design of what later became the scanning electron
microscope—which other more mature minds did the actual work on in order
to make it work...while I wasted my time thinking of all sorts of such
things and failed English at the very same moment I was testing in the top ten
percent on Standardized State English tests...then later second percentile in
National tests. Lucky thing I had fun taking tests, or I'd still be flippin' burgers. But that's an aside.
Notwithstanding giant WMD holocausts
orchestrated by people altering (in ways
the typical man on the street has no way of following, maybe even some of
the women) yet altering most particulars of E=mc2 so
that those holocausts did derive a precipitate of very impressive result, malarkey is still malarkey.
Except it is an interesting little word (E=mc2), so I went out looking for more.
This is the path American Road Cycling
will now take. A thread of physics will be followed, just so I can better
understand all the nonsensical theories under the general heading
of "bike fit" that permeates the Internet these days. This will probably
be rather boring for most, so thoughtless pussies are welcome to get off
at the next stop...which would be right here.
Moving forward, the first two books that
the rest of us will look at are:
Bodanis, David. "E=Mc2: A Biography of the World's Most
Famous Equation". New York: Berkley Books, 2000. ISBN: 0-425-18164-2
Feynman, Richard P. "Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics
Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher". New York: Basic Books,
1995. ISBN: 0-465-02392-4 (apparently
Feynman is pronounced "fine-mun" see also:
dictionary.com)
Neither of these are the one I found at
Amazon
about the hooey factor embodied in Einstein's theory. That book is:
Kamenov, Kamen George. "Space, Time and Matter, and the Falsity of
Einstein's Theory of Relativity". New York: Vantage Press, 2000.
ISBN: 0533130972
That book will be addressed after a more solid foundation is
established regarding what most people "think is true" about our little
formula.
The Feynman book was purchased for the
Black Widow
whom SlingShot is constantly harassing to learn the basics of
physics, so she can kick your whiny ass, no matter who you are. He even
made her read this paragraph from its Introduction (p. xiv):
"Right at the beginning of SIX EASY PIECES we learn how all
physics is rooted in the notion of law—the existence of an ordered
universe that can be understood by the application of rational
reasoning."
Starting with this quote is a good beginning, because stating it now
will hopefully grab by the collar those who believe the Universe is ruled by
unfathomable magic and dissuade them from reading on. They will most
certainly lose interest, if the
bad
words used on the American Road Cycling site haven't already
achieved that end, and that will be a good thing, because the rest of us,
who try not to hold superstition as truth, will eventually need those others
to carry our strap-on-bombs into unsuspecting marketplaces, or maybe get them to wear
our body armor onto whatever foreign soil is in vogue at the time when the
thinking remainder of us, who understand the use of reason, find it
convenient to convince them to fodder themselves at our behest. This has more or less
been the sorts of jobs the unthinking crowd has always fulfilled anyway, so we won't be
asking too much of them.
If something stated here has not got you really pissed off, you haven't been
reading carefully.
The next installment will expand on the quote above and begin pointing
to the reasons your bike doesn't fit, and the reasons it never will.