Originally Posted by
xenologer
However, does twice the force equate to twice as fast down the hill?
no, drag increases at, uhhh, I think it's the square of speed.
Regardless of somethings weight, his Acceleration is what is important for the downhill race.
depends on the length of the race
Force=Mass*Acceleration
Acceleration=Force/Mass
In other words, while the guy twice as big recieves twice as much force from gravity, he also has twice as much mass which cancels out the benefit.
Not sure about the math on that part. What I am sure about was on my ride today I met up with a guy. We rode for about 15 miles together, mostly level, some short hills. We seemed a pretty good match on level ground, but on descents I ran away from him pretty badly. He said I was pretty nasty going down those hills. My response was that at least those extra 50 lbs I drag around are good for something. I am guessing I had about 30 lbs on him.
To supramax's statements concerning dropping stuff and galileo, similar shaped object weighing something close resonably close to each other will drop at approximately the same speed over a relatively short distance. The same object dropped from higher distances will certainly NOT drop at the same speed. Given similar aerodynamics, the lighter object will reach terminal velocity at a lower speed. It's not even open to debate. It is a fact. More weight=more force. More force=higher terminal velocity