Forces in an Athletic Shoe - Athalonz

Description

Power for an athletic movement comes from the body interacting with the ground. We push on the ground, the ground pushes back allowing us to move. It is a basic law of physics. Athletic shoes are the interface between the body and ground. Thus, the push we apply to the ground and the push-back by the ground is through the shoes. Like all mechanical systems, the shoes do not perfectly transfer the forces between the body and the ground. There are loses. For example, when we stand in a shoe, we create a vertical force vector that causes the sole of the shoe to compress. When we lift our foot up, the sole of shoe decompresses. The compression and decompression of the sole is not perfect; it requires energy (force over a distance). Thus, the force at which the ground