Isaac Newton and the Route Napoleon

[Peregrinopaul]

No, he didn't walk the camino, but if he he had done, I'm positive he would have been thinking about the following calculation. (I'm retired from getting teen-age students to appreciate the sheer beauty of the following, but I can't resist pointing it out to those of you who are tempted think about other things while you climb).
According to Newton's laws, the energy required to raise a load 1 metre, is simply the mass, in kilograms, multiplied by the resisting force of gravity. That force is caused by an acceleration of 10m/sec/sec approximately, forget the units, they're not important to the outcome in this case, the outcome being joules of energy.
So, a 75kg person, (I'm including the backpack for the sake of argument) raising himself to the top of the pass, lifts his or her mass say 1200m. So the energy required to do that is 75 x10 x1200, which gives us a grand total of 900 000 joules, or in a more convenient unit, 900 kilojoules. (If you'll permit me to indulge myself, that word is pronounced kill oh joules, just like kilometre should be pronounced kill oh meet er, so all you kill ommiter people out there ....)
A cyclist on the other hand has a bike too. That's likely to weigh close to 20 kg with rack and so on, and we'll give him 10 kg of gear in his panniers. So 100 kg. His energy requirement, therefore, would be 100 x 10 x 1200, that's 1 200 000 joules, or 1200 kilojoules.
My breakfast cerial, (Weetbix in Oz, add an A in the middle if you're English), according to the packet, delivers me close to 500 kilojoules per serve Wow! Conclusion: if you want to do the Route Napoleon, eat an extra Weetbix for breakfast, or an extra 2 or 3 if you have a bike, (cyclists have to work harder in these circumstances), and, voilá, you're there!
I can't help thinking I'm missing something .....

 

[PANO]

Funny, lol How many µJ did it take to think it up and write it down?

 

[Suzanne S.]

Can you translate that to calories for me?

 

[whariwharangi]

You are missing the important bit about how much energy it takes to keep a body in forward motion for 25 kill oh meeters.

 

[jdpiguet]

Physically speaking, moving around without changing the altitude does not require energy.
Bad luck.
But the human body is a not perfect machine, so it loose energy in the transformation of chemical energy into mechanical one and there are "rubbing" everywhere.
So we need energy.
And we are thinking almost continuously. Another energy consumption.

I need another Weetbix...

 

[VNwalking]

Only ONE extra wheatbix?! Boo.
No wonder I didn't lose much weight. ;-)
But wait..the rule of thumb I learned is that we burn roughly 100 calories per mile traveled on foot (walking, running, crawling - the pace doesn't matter). That's in addition to baseline metabolism and doesn't take pack or terrain into account. So the 900 kilojoules is in addition to that, right? (Sorry for the imperial/metric mixed units...I'm sure you get the drift....)

 

[grayland]

Paul...I am wondering if you could calculate how much of a lift 3 helium balloons would create in and on my pack.
I was thinking maybe one just inside the top and then 2 on strings on the sides. Would the length of the string and thus the height of the balloons make a difference?

 

[PANO]

Gobbling Wheatbix adds to weight and diminishes efficiency. Skip breakfast entirely, walk the Napoleon route and grayland's balloons will carry you all the way to SdC.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Paul...I am wondering if you could calculate how much of a lift 3 helium balloons would create in and on my pack.
I was thinking maybe one just inside the top and then 2 on strings on the sides. Would the length of the string and thus the height of the balloons make a difference?

Spoken like a true American. After all, give an American time, and he'll send a man to the moon.
On that train of thought, where I live it is dead flat for miles with the exception of an ancient sand dune ridge just outside town which is a 33m climb to the top. I do most of my bike training going up and down the hill. On top are the remains of the old NASA tracking station, one of three in the world which tracked the Apollo spacecraft in the sixties. This little town was humming in 1969.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

You are missing the important bit about how much energy it takes to keep a body in forward motion for 25 kill oh meeters.

Mmmm. But just checked with iNewton@twitter and he said zero, unless your body is accelerating, or subjected to "rubbing", as jdpiguet would say! Now there's a thought.

Gobbling Wheatbix adds to weight and diminishes efficiency. Skip breakfast entirely, walk the Napoleon route and grayland's balloons will carry you all the way to SdC.

Bravo! Pano.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Can you translate that to calories for me?

Rule of thumb, divide by 4.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Only ONE extra wheatbix?! Boo.
No wonder I didn't lose much weight. ;-)
But wait..the rule of thumb I learned is that we burn roughly 100 calories per mile traveled on foot (walking, running, crawling - the pace doesn't matter). That's in addition to baseline metabolism and doesn't take pack or terrain into account. So the 900 kilojoules is in addition to that, right? (Sorry for the imperial/metric mixed units...I'm sure you get the drift....)

Yes, indeed. Apparently a high proportion of energy from our food is squandered just keeping our body temperature constant.

 

[Suzanne S.]

Rule of thumb, divide by 4.

Sounds easy enough. But, instead of dividing, I may just walk...

 

[whariwharangi]

Mmmm. But just checked with iNewton@twitter and he said zero, unless your body is accelerating, or subjected to "rubbing", as jdpiguet would say! Now there's a thought.

Bravo! Pano.

The body is accelerating. Air resistance, bone and muscle resistance. Route Napoleon may be at a higher altitude than most of us normally go ... but its not a vacuum in low gravity.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Sounds easy enough. But, instead of dividing, I may just walk...

Nice one, Suzanne. Ditto on the wink, incidentally. I'm realising that I should have put one at the end of my first post here.

 

[William Garza]

I figure this
To get there...
From
Here...
I need to get my mass in gear,...just a thought.

 

[whariwharangi]

I figure this
To get there...
From
Here...
I need to get my mass in gear,...just a thought.

Either that or eject hot gases ... like a rocket.

 

[William Garza]

BAAAAAHAHAHA!
Well put!

 

[William Garza]

But i wonder what he would have thought of the attractive force,that is,what gravity pulls so many from so far to such a small trail in the wide world?
Here i site in Texas,and i find myself oriented east-ish...
I wonder why the pull is so strong from so far away...
Must be a new form of matter i think.
Its what matters most,to so many

 

[Albertagirl]

I have been thinking that this thread has a lot in common with the thread titled how to prepare backpack for flight? Good luck on that.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

But i wonder what he would have thought of the attractive force,that is,what gravity pulls so many from so far to such a small trail in the wide world?
Here i site in Texas,and i find myself oriented east-ish...
I wonder why the pull is so strong from so far away...
Must be a new form of matter i think.
Its what matters most,to so many

You touch on the very essence there, William. (Like You, and contrary to the impression I may have given, I'm not one of those who looks to science to explain everything, thank God).

 

[William Garza]

I think too much...
Well according to around most all my aquaintences
I beg to differ
I love science
I love my religion

I see no diametric opposition
No polarity-s
I have wonder at the wide world
Knowledge,imho,shouldnt be limited by predjudice,misconseption/perception

All I can do is answer some undefined pull toward some land and an idea

I know on the path,i'll be falling inward,expanding outward and absorbing so much...
I will simply
Be
Along with other humans
Being...
Wonderful no?

 

[Peregrinopaul]

I figure this
To get there...
From
Here...
I need to get my mass in gear,...just a thought.

Sorry, William, I was a bit slow absorbing that one. "Getting your mass into gear", a great turn of phrase.

 

[Bernard duffy]

Drink beer and be damned

 

[Peregrinopaul]

I think too much...
Well according to around most all my aquaintences
I beg to differ
I love science
I love my religion

I see no diametric opposition
No polarity-s
I have wonder at the wide world
Knowledge,imho,shouldnt be limited by predjudice,misconseption/perception

All I can do is answer some undefined pull toward some land and an idea

I know on the path,i'll be falling inward,expanding outward and absorbing so much...
I will simply
Be
Along with other humans
Being...
Wonderful no?

Wonderful, well I have to say, William, your posts are remarkable. I was going to say pure poetry, and despite the cliche, that's what they are, of course. I brought up your profile page out of curiosity, and in in a truly evocative post, (on the thread "Quietening your busy mind" - I recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it), you tell us that you are retired medically. If I am ever in need of inspiration, or healing, I hope I cross paths with you sometime on the camino.

 

[William Garza]

I appreciate the kind words
I am working toward getting the there asap! Its a joyous application if effort toward finally setting foot to clay on the first day.
I can imagine all I want...
But at the moment of being there..

There are many medical issues,muscle,bone and nerve damage...but the evanescent joy of being in that moment...
I think I will forget for that moment,what I was,instead.,,to what I will be

"Pain is inevitable,suffering is optional"someone wise has said
I will be on the wings of the Pilgrim, to be left..bereft.
That is,the bittersweetness of passing into the dark from the light of doing
To the memory of having been..

That is, until the nectar in my cup draws eyes into a far away place and time..
And when next my friends see me?
It will be heading off with pack on back and a little scallop shell bouncing in time to the pilgrims steps.
I hope to meet everyone there!!!

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Coming clean on my original post, apparently the average person exerting themselves walking on level ground, will consume about a megajoule of energy per hour in the process. If you spend six hours climbing the Route Napoleon you would have to add the 900 kJ of lifting energy, resulting in a total consumption of approximately 7 000kJ , or 7 megajoules. If the claims of the Weetbix manufacturer are correct, that equates to about 14 standard breakfasts. Hmmm ...seems to be more in the ballpark!
I know you want me to stop this nonsense, but I just checked, and a bottle of vino tinto contains about 2 MJ of energy. Beats Weetbix.

 

[William Garza]

Wonder howmuch energy a can of has?RedBull

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Hi William. Apparently 460kJ.

 

[William Garza]

Haa!