Does it take longer to run on a curved

path than it takes to run the same

distance on a straight path ?

By : Jaheim Martin , Orane Grant & Shemar Fisher

 INTRODUCTION

This SBA will attempt to discover if it takes longer to

run the same distance on a curved path or a straight
path. The amount of time it takes to run across a
straight path of 100 meters was compared to the
amount of time it takes to run across a curved path of
100 meters.
 Method Of Data Collection

The student researcher will ask 7 classmates during PE time to run

100m on the curved part of the track. They will all be using the same
lane. Each person’s time will be measured using a stopwatch,
rounded to the nearest tenth of a second and the time will be
recorded. Those same persons on a separate PE class time will be
asked to run 100m on the straight part of the track. The results will
be measured in the same way as the distance on the curve and
recorded. The two sets of times will then be compared and analyzed.
 Presentation of data
The table below shows the data collected for the times taken to complete the 100m on the curve and on the straight.

Students name Time taken to run the Time taken to run the
100m straight “ A” 100m curved “b”

Obrien Edwards 14.4 15.5

Kirk Johnson 13.5 14.6

Shemar Fisher 14.8 15.9

Orane Grant 12.6 13.2

Jaheim Martin 15.2 16.3

Tajay Lateman 13.4 14.6

Austin Brown 12.9 14.0

 Analysis Of Data

The 100m straight run had a range of 2.6 seconds. This means that it took 2.6 seconds for
all the athletes to cross the finish line once the first person had crossed.The 100m run on
the curve had a range of 3.1 which is 0.5 seconds longer than on the straight.The average
time taken to run the 100m on the straight is given as 13.8 seconds.The average time taken
to complete the 100m run on the curve was calculated as 14.9 seconds. On average it took
1.1 second longer to complete the 100m run on the curve than it took to complete the run
on the straight.The average speed taken after completing the 100m run on the straight was
calculated using the formula speed+distance/time, this showed that the speed on the
straight was 7.3m/s compared with 6.7m/s on the curve. The average speed over the 100m
straight was faster than on the curve by 0.6m/s.
 Discussion Of Finding

While the outcome was expected based on the observation of whe

you are taking the North coast highway to kingston (a straight road
few curves )you would generally arrive at your destination faster th
you would have if you were traveling the Mount Rosser route (whic
full of curves). A curved path would take more time to get from A to
than a straight path.
 Conclusion

This SBA started with the assumption that it takes longer to run on a
curved path than on the straight assuming that in both cases a cold
start is used. The data shows beyond doubt that it does indeed take a
longer time to run the curve.