Inclinometer post

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I went to the website where they sell the Inclinometers, and this thought
hit me: Was the original poster who claimed to easily ride up 20% highway
grades perhaps fooled by the Inclinometer? That is, was he looking at the
forward edge of the bubble instead of figuring the actual grade which

should

Quoted message said:

be in the middle of the bubble?

Pat in TX

IIRC the poster was relying on information his dad gave him.

"Pat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I went to the website where they sell the Inclinometers, and this thought
hit me: Was the original poster who claimed to easily ride up 20% highway
grades perhaps fooled by the Inclinometer? That is, was he looking at the
forward edge of the bubble instead of figuring the actual grade which

should

Quoted message said:

be in the middle of the bubble?

Pat in TX

I have a bubble inclinometer, and it indeed reads on the forward edge going
uphill and the trailing edge going downhill. However, acceleration causes it
to read low, and deceleration to read steeper than actual. So if your
slowing down as you go uphill (not that unusual) it will read falsely steep.
This is a quite strong effect.

However, for constant speed it is surprisingly accurate, as guaged by
testing on a couple hills near my home and checking with an optical level
and tape.

BTW, the acceleration effect on the inclinometer is actually a great
demonstration of general relativity - that gravity and acceleration are
indistinguishable!

As far as going easily up a 20% hill - only if his name is Armstrong!!

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:27:34 -0700, "MarkR"

mail@*splinters*mrstudio.com said:

As far as going easily up a 20% hill - only if his name is Armstrong!!

It's "Legstrong". Get it right or pay the price!
--
Rick Onanian