October 16, 2013
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmHow to Run Faster [Video]
You actually move your limbs as fast as Usain Bolt does—so why does he leave you in the dust? The role of force and momentum is explained in a new NOVA program
By The Editors
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In “Making Stuff,” a new four-part NOVA series premiering on PBS on Wednesday, October 16, New York Times and Scientific Americantechnology columnist David Pogue explores the material world in making things faster, smaller, cleaner and smarter. In this sneak-peek clip, Pogue learns the secret to faster sprinting. It doesn’t have to do with moving your limbs faster—in fact, analyses done at the Southern Methodist University lab featured here show that professional sprinters and everyday folk reorient their legs at the same rate.
So what determines running speed? The short answer: staying straight and slamming down hard.
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