Heavy vs light person running into the wind

[pete6032]

Say you have two people, both the same size roughly and same athletic ability. One weighs 150 lbs the other weighs 175 lbs. Both running into a 25 mph head wind. Which person has more difficulty running into the wind, the lighter person or the heavier person, or does it have the same effect?

 

[3chordcharlie]

The person with greater coefficient of drag.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Obligatory: Do your own homework

The wind will hit the larger person with more force, that's undeniable. But which person would have more difficulty can't be answered with the information given. Even with the larger surface area and greater coefficient of drag the larger runner might be able to power through the wind easily if he was a strong runner while a weak 150 pounder could be brought to a complete standstill be a brisk headwind.

IE, a cheetah has a greater coefficient of drag than a wombat, but I'm still going to bet on the cheetah.

 

[haedon]

If they have same athletic ability then, there is a possibility that both have same effect.

 

[DrPizza]

The OP is very ambiguous, making it impossible to come to any agreement.
For example, if they have the exact same physical ability (whatever that means), then you can simply argue that the heavier guy would have more difficulty running regardless of the wind speed. E.g., it takes a lot more energy to keep a 60,000 pound semi driving down the road than it does to propel a small car. And by this, I'm making athletic ability analogous to how powerful an engine is.

 

[Hacp]

We don't know actually unless there are more specifics. I would say the heavier person has the advantage. Why? If these imaginary people were tall and wide enough, it could be that the wind would blow the lighter person back, but the heavier person would be able to move forward. So technically the heavier person would be moving into the wind while the lighter person would just be blown back.

 

[Ken g6]

If the soles of their shoes are slippery, the lighter person would have more trouble. Even more so as they would have to lean into the wind, which would lift them up, decreasing their force against the ground even more.

 

[eldorado99]

What an odd question.

 

[DigDog]

The wind will hit the larger person with more force, that's undeniable.

no; you are assuming the heavier person also has more drag. he means two identical bodies one of which is denser then the other.


there's many variable left untold in the OP. if you have A: 175 Kg and 175HP, vs 150Kg and 150HP, the wind would hit harder the less dense object. it's due to the proportionality of inverse action, the lighter object uses less power to produce the same result, so an opposite amount of power would amount to a greater percentile reduction.


protip - when you have a physics problem which doesn't come out intuitively, exagerate the values. so, 100mph wind, meets object 1 with 1kg and 1HP, and object 2, with 10,000Kg and 10,000HP. you'll see immediately that since the wind value does not scale, object 2 is less affected.

unless there is a limiting factor, the vector of an equation will not change.

 

[kt]

More importantly, are they both running on a treadmill?

 

[Jeff7]

Ahh, this makes me think of work: Someone asks a question that they think is very simple and can be answered in 5 words or less, but it's actually either a complex question, or else is missing a lot of necessary information to answer. Then they act like I'm the ignorant or clueless one.
(The latter part of that hasn't happened in this thread; that's just how it goes at work.)

 

[Carson Dyle]

The weight difference is going to make a much bigger difference than aerodynamics.

It's not that complicated.

 

[Jeff7]

The weight difference is going to make a much bigger difference than aerodynamics.

It's not that complicated.

Even if one of them is wearing some really rad MC Hammer pants?

 

[Captante]

More importantly, are they both running on a treadmill?

I'm betting neither one will take off.

*(unless its a really strong wind in which case both might!)

 

[John Connor]

Put them both on a treadmill and see what happens?

Ah crap. Scrolled past all the comments, post and look at the comment above and someone beat me. *shakes fist*

 

[Paladin3]

If both have the same size and shape then they both have the same drag, so the wind itself effects them equally. If they both have the same amount of energy to move forward then the heavier person will have less forward movement because they have to move the extra 25lbs.

The heavier person may have a tiny, tiny advantage as far as traction goes thanks to the extra weight, but I don't think 25mph winds would be enough to cause either person to break traction so it's hardly worth mentioning.

If we are strictly speaking of the effect the wind has on them, it is equal because they are the same shape and size. Density shouldn't have any effect on wind resistance of a moving body, unless the wind is strong enough to cause the lighter body to break traction while he denser body maintains it.

 

[sandorski]

A persons weight should not matter in this scenario.....I think.

 

[twinrider1]

Take the word roughly out and you can get an answer.

They'll reach the same top speed. The lighter object will get there faster and be able to maintain it longer.

 

[Phokus]

Tesla found out that when they reduced the weight of their Model S by something like 25%, it didn't have much effect on the range of their battery and that drag coeffiecient mattered much more.

 

[vi edit]

Hold your hand out the window of a moving car. First keep it flat and let it slice the air. Then turn it so your palm is up and facing the front of the car and into the wind.

Which is way do you feel like you are working harder at holding your hand out?

Same weight. Very different aerodynamic profiles. I think it's mostly the same for runners. Taller runners or wider runners are going to work harder than shorter, leaner builds that don't have as much surface area to act as a wind catcher. It's purely anecdotal but wind is the bane of my running. I'm 6' and broad shouldered. Wind hits me like a wall. I've had races where I'll take off my shirt just to cut down on the drag in really windy conditions to whatever I can to reduce the effect.

 

[mizzou]

The 175lb male is filled with heavy water, not normal water.

Does this cool his interior organs more efficiently then the 150lb male with normal water?

If this is true, does it mean that aliens will be more likely to harvest the water from his organs?

IF THIS IS TRUE, does that mean that the 175lb man has super powers that he doesn't yet become aware of and therefore can attain nirvana at any moment?

 

[vi edit]

The 175lb male is filled with heavy water, not normal water.

Does this cool his interior organs more efficiently then the 150lb male with normal water?

If this is true, does it mean that aliens will be more likely to harvest the water from his organs?

IF THIS IS TRUE, does that mean that the 175lb man has super powers that he doesn't yet become aware of and therefore can attain nirvana at any moment?

Why would a Wookiee, an 8-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of 2-foot-tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation, does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.

 

[reallyscrued]

The person with greater coefficient of drag.

Ding ding.

Correct answer on first reply.

Their weight is irrelevent, it's their overall surface area coming in contact with "the wind".

A heavy person at ~200 pounds displaces that 100 liters of water when dropping him into a tub will experience more resistance against the wind than a body builder that weighs ~250 pounds that displaces 75 liters of water.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Say you have two people, both the same size roughly and same athletic ability. One weighs 150 lbs the other weighs 175 lbs. Both running into a 25 mph head wind. Which person has more difficulty running into the wind, the lighter person or the heavier person, or does it have the same effect?

Standing still in a high wind the lighter person gets blown away. What's running got to do with it?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

no; you are assuming the heavier person also has more drag. he means two identical bodies one of which is denser then the other.

No, he doesn't. The human body is mostly water and water weight is fixed. Unless one person has a lead skeleton the heavier person is going to have greater surface area and a greater coefficient of drag. If he wanted to use identical shapes of different weights he would not have specified people.