RunningStyle

Background Drag is used in physics and engineering. It’s central to the field of fluid dynamics and is also called air or fluid resistance. Dragrefers to forces that oppose the motion of a solid object through a liquid or a gas. Drag forces move in a direction opposite of thevelocity. Drag depends on velocity unlike other resistive forces like dry friction, which is nearly needless of velocity. Drag is the force on an object that resists its motion through a fluid. When the fluid is a gas like air, it’s called aerodynamic dragor air resistance. Drag is a very complicated concept. It’s really hard to explain from a theory based on fundamental rules. Drag is

atopic that is better explored experimentally. Drag increases with the denseness of the fluid. The more density there is, the more mass there is. In other words, moreresistance gets out of the way. Drag also increases with area. More surface area means that there is more of the object in contactwith the fluid. increase with speed. Some people think of the “area” as the area of contact between the object and the fluid.Clothes and hair also add additional drag. Shoes with laces add 0.5% more drag. Hair on limbs add 0.6% more drag. Long socksadd 0.9% more drag. Short hair adds 4% more drag. Loosely fitted clothing adds about 4.2% more drag. And long hair adds 6.3%more drag. Drag is a very important factor to consider in certain races. For example, bike racers are very aware of drag, also called windresistance. The faster a cyclist goes, the more resistance he experiences. Aerodynamic drag involves air pressure drag and directfriction. On a flat road, pressure drag counts for 70 to 90 percent of the resistance that a biker feels when pedaling. The onlylarger obstacle is biking up a hill, where gravity is a much harder thing to overcome than resistance. Also, the design of the bikealso accounts for some drag (about 6-8 pounds of drag). Drag also affects performance in running and jumping, two major events in track and field activities. When a person runs on atrack, he/she must be able to overcome the drag resistance of the air, especially when there is wind. However, when the wind iscoming up from their back, humans can run 10% faster. Smoothing the air flow around stream-lined areas such as the chin earsand hair can reduce your running speed by 1% - 3%, depending on how long the race is.

Question:

How does the style of your hair effect how longit takes you to run 50 feet?

Hypothesis:

As I put my hair in a bun, then the time it takes me to run 50 feet will decrease because my hair will be tied together behind my head, and it will not fly around as much as if it was in a ponytail or pigtails. With my hair bound together behind my head, there will be less wind resistance which will keep me from slowing down.

Variables

• Manipulated Variable: Style of hair

• Responding Variable: Time it takes to run 50 ft

• Controlled Variables: Level surface, Running distance, Clothes, Tennis shoes, Type of hair ties, person running

Materials:

• Timer• A set of clothes• Tennis shoes• Hair ties• Measuring tape/ Meter stick• 50 feet of level ground• Person

Procedure

1. Set up as shown in diagram. 2. Start running on a level surface and start timer at the same

time. 3. Stop the timer once you finish running 50 feet. 4. Record how long it took you to run 50 feet. 5. Rest for at least five minutes to regain full energy. 6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for repeated trials. 7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 w/ a ponytail.8. Repeat steps 1 to 6 w/ a bun. 9. Repeat steps 1 to 6 w/ pigtails.

Hairstyle vs. SpeedTrial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

Down 4.7 seconds

3.94 seconds

4.19 seconds

4.276 seconds

Ponytail 4.15 seconds

3.84 seconds

4.16 seconds

4.03 seconds

Pigtails 4.35 seconds

4.32 seconds

4.41 seconds

4.36 seconds

Bun 4.16 seconds

4.13 seconds

3.97 seconds

4.086 seconds

Conclusion I thought that if I put my hair in a bun, then it would increase my speed the most.My results showed that putting my hair in a bun makes me run faster thanwith my hair down but slower than with my hair in a ponytail. I can prove this becausemy slowest running average was when I had my hair in pigtails. The average was 4.36seconds. My fastest running average was when I had my hair in a ponytail. The averagewas 4.03 seconds. The difference was 0.33 seconds. This rejects my originalhypothesis. Therefore if I put my hair in a ponytail, then it will increase my speed themost.

Abstract The purpose of my project was to see if/ how the style of your hair affects how fast you runbecause at track meets and races, some girls have their hair in different styles, usually ponytails. Ijust wanted to test and see if the style of your hair can raise or lower your chance to win in arace. Also, my little sister loves to run, so I thought I would do this experiment for her. I thoughtthat having your hair in pigtails while running will slow you down the most and putting your hairin bun would slow you down the least. ‘ A few errors I made in my experiment were that the temperature on the different days that Idid the trials were different. The second day was colder than the first day. Also, I used flat,cement surfaces to run on, but I didn’t run in the same place on both days. What I learned about completing my experiment was that you run faster with your hair in aponytail, and pigtails make you run even slower than with your hair down. What I could do differently is do the experiment inside a gym where the temperatures stays thesame all the time. There, the surface is also smoother.