vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T
Reaction score
2

Profile posts Latest activity Postings About

  • Hi TigerMouth.
    I've never seen that one shouldn't tie their hammock to an AMC lean-to...where did you read that? Anyway, I don't know about 600 pds but certainly the hammock can exert more force on the lean-to than your 160 pds.

    First try this experiment: Find a bar that you can hang from and hang with your arms straight over your head, fully extended. Feel the tension in your arms. Each arm is exerting 80 pds of force against gravity to hold you up (160 pds total). After resting your arms, hang from the same bar but this time hang with your hands as far apart as possible. *Now* feel the tension in your arms...it's harder, isn't it? Each arm is exerting *more* than 80 pds. Why?

    When you hang straight-armed you are only exerting an upward force against gravity. But when you hang spread-armed, in addition to exerting the upward force equal to half your weight (for each arm) there is also a horizontal force that keeps you from swinging sideways. If you released one hand you would swing so that you were hanging directly under the other hand. Each arm must exert a force to keep you from swinging away.

    It works the same with your hammock. If you hung it like a chair so that it only pulled straight down from the ceiling, the hammock would exert only your 160 pds of weight to the ceiling (80 pds on each side). But if you spread the ends apart we introduce the sideways component, increasing the amount of force each end of the hammock must exert in order to hold you up and keep you from swinging. How much more force depends on the angle between the wall/branch/ceiling and the hammock. The wider the spread (and flatter the hammock) the greater the effect. I hope that makes sense.

    Oh, and the "swelling of the vegan" comment referred to your "veganitis" The suffix "-itis" in medical terms means inflammation or swelling.
    Cheers,
    Nancy
    Nice TR and pics of your Pemi Loop hike. It reminds me that it's been years since I've hiked that loop and I really need to do it again. I got a chuckle from your "August veganitis" comment...swelling of the vegan?
    -vegematic (a not-swollen vegan)
  • Loading…
  • Loading…
  • Loading…
Top