Running 70m Curve versus Straight.

Does Running 70m on a Curve Take Longer than Running the same distance on a Straight Track?
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Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc503019400 h 3Method of Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc503019401 h 3Presentation of Data PAGEREF _Toc503019402 h 4Table 1 PAGEREF _Toc503019403 h 4Figure 1 PAGEREF _Toc503019404 h 5Figure 2 PAGEREF _Toc503019405 h 6Figure 3 PAGEREF _Toc503019406 h 7Data analysis PAGEREF _Toc503019407 h 7Table 2 PAGEREF _Toc503019408 h 7Discussion PAGEREF _Toc503019409 h 8Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc503019410 h 8References PAGEREF _Toc503019411 h 9
Does Running 70m on a Curve Take Longer than Running the same distance on a Straight Track?
IntroductionRunning is a popular global practice that is performed as a sporting event and personal practice to maintain physical health. Apart from being the primary factor that enables people to improve their health, running is one of the leading multi-sport events that have allowed people to get medals. In this SBA project, the primary objective is to find out if running on a curved path takes longer than on a straight track. The experiment will involve athletes who will be timed to complete the curved and straight 70m paths. The objective will be achieved by collecting and analyzing data in terms of time taken to run 70m on a curve and 70m on a straight lane.
Method of Data CollectionThe process of data collection took the form of an experiment in which the researcher measured a distance of 70m using a measuring tape.

The starting and finishing points were labeled as A and B respectively using a stick of chalk. A sample of eight athletes was randomly selected from different classes. They were assigned numbers to represent their names. Their ages were also recorded. The time to run the straight and curved path by each athlete was recorded using a stopwatch.
Presentation of DataTable 1 presents the time taken by each athlete to complete the 70m curved and straight paths separately. The time is recorded in seconds.
Table 1DATA COLLECTION SHEET
Name of Athlete Age of Athlete Time Taken to Cover (70m Curve) Time Taken to Cover (70m Straight) Time Difference
1 17 13.3 10.8 +2.5
2 16 12.0 10.4 +1.6
3 17 11.3 10.1 +1.2
4 18 11.6 9.9 +1.7
5 16 12.0 10.9 +1.1
6 17 12.9 11.2 +1.7
7 18 11.3 11.1 +0.2
8 17 11.8 10.9 +0.9
Figure 1 presents a bar graph that gives the time taken by the athletes to cover the 70m curved track. The figure reveals that most of the athletes completed the race within 11-12 seconds.

Figure 1Figure 2 presents a pie chart that shows the time taken by the athletes to cover the 70m straight track and frequencies. The figure reveals that most of the athletes completed the race within 10-11 seconds while just one runner took between nine and ten seconds.

Figure 2Figure 3 presents a comparative line graph for the 70m curved and straight tracks for the athletes.

Figure 3Data analysisTable 2Statistic Time Taken to Cover 70m Curve (in seconds) Time Taken to Cover 70m Straight track (in seconds)
Nbr. of observations 8 8
Minimum 11.300 9.900
Maximum 13.300 11.200
Median 11.900 10.850
Mean 12.025 10.663
Variance (n-1) 0.525 0.226
Standard deviation (n-1) 0.725 0.475
The analysis contained in Table 2 revealed that on average, athletes took 12.025 and 10.667seconds to complete the 70m curved and straight tracks respectively. The standard deviation for the two data sets also revealed that there was more significant variability in the time taken to cover the curved track compared to the time taken for the straight track as suggested by its large standard deviation (Carlson & Winquist, 2013). The study also shows that the maximum time taken to complete the curved track was 13.3 seconds while on the straight track, the maximum time was 11.2. This represents almost 16% time difference.
On average, it could be concluded that the athletes covered the curved track at a speed of 7012.025=5.821m/s and for the straight track, the speed was 7010.663=6.565m/s. This shows that athletes tended to complete the straight track at higher speed compared to the curved track. The positive differences between the time taken to complete curved track and straight track as shown in Table 1 suggest that athletes took longer to complete the curved path.
DiscussionAccording to the analysis, it is evident that an athlete would take longer to run a curved track than a straight one. The results indicate that the average time taken to run on a curve and a straight track are 12.025 and 10.663 seconds respectively. This implies that one needs additional 1.362 seconds to run on a curved track. According to Real World Physics Problems (2017), the extra time is caused by the centrifugal force experienced by athletes when they negotiate the turn. Also, the speed with which individuals ran on a curve was lower than on a straight track. According to the findings, athletes managed a speed of 5.821m/s and 6.565m/s on curved and straight track respectively.
ConclusionIn conclusion, the experiment confirmed the hypothesis that it takes longer to run a 70m distance on a curved path than a similar distance on a straight track. In this SBA project, the objective to find out whether running 70m on a curve take longer than running the same distance on a straight track was answered by the findings of the experiment where eight athletes were sampled and their time to cover a curved and straight track recorded. Curved track required more time than the straight one.ReferencesCarlson, K. A., & Winquist, J. R. (2013). An introduction to statistics: An active learning approach. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Real World Physics Problems. (2017). Physics of Running. Real World Physics Problems. Retrieved from https://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/physics-of-running.html