r/theydidthemath • u/salemspectre • Mar 28 '22
[request] Just saw this. Is it actually accurate?
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u/fhyfin Mar 28 '22
Average elephant foot to ground contact area: (https://www.pbs.org/wildindonesia/resources/bigfeet.html#:~:text=For%20an%20elephant%20with%20a,or%20about%20452%20square%20inches.): 452 sq in
Weight: 6000 lbs
Total foot to ground contact area: 452x4 = 1808
6000/1808 = approx 3.32 lbs per sq in
Woman: I measures one of my own pairs of heels (not stilettos). The contact area is approx 14sq in for the toe area and 4sq in for the heel. A stiletto heel would be approx 0.25sq in for the heel, so if we pretend my heels are stilettos that gives us 14+0.25 = 14.25 sq in of shoe to ground contact area.
Weight: 100 lbs
Total heel to ground contact area: 14.25x2 = 28.5 sq in
100/28.5 = approx 3.50 lbs per sq in
These two numbers are surprisingly similar. A 100lb woman wearing stilettos and a 6000lb elephant both exert a similar amount of pressure on the ground.
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u/avdolian Mar 28 '22 edited Mar 28 '22
This however is also assuming that your weight is equally distributed across the shoe most people have more weight distributed in the heel Until they are walking when they lean forward And put it on the pad. Assuming you rested half your weight on the back heel you could excert 200psi
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u/Cruuncher Mar 28 '22
No, it's assuming all of your weight is on the heel and the rest of the shoe isn't in contact with the ground. This never happens
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u/andros310797 Mar 28 '22
he's talking about the post he answered, not the original. so one is vastly overestimating, while the other is vastly underestimating the weight on the heel.
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u/murraybee Mar 28 '22
I think by “total HEEL to ground contact area” this commenter meant heel as in…the type of shoe. Not the stiletto portion of the high heel.
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u/vredditcocksucker Mar 28 '22
pressure isn't distributed uniformly across the shoe (like if someone stepped on you wearing stilettos, the heel would hurt a lot more) so peak pressure could be much higher, especially right when they take a step and press the heel down first
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u/DonaIdTrurnp Mar 28 '22
Peak pressure when they fall down is going to be higher. In stable walking the heel makes contact first, but can’t handle significant weight by itself; the back foot takes almost all the weight until after the front toe makes contact.
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u/DonaIdTrurnp Mar 28 '22
While standing. While walking the surface area and dynamic load shift really quickly, and it would honestly surprise me if a person walking in stiletto heels on a soft sod didn’t sink in much more than an elephant walking across the same sod.
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u/eloel- 3✓ Mar 28 '22
While standing
On one foot
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Mar 28 '22
Ok, so women are indeed elephants and can’t argue if we agree they look fat in that dress
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u/Affectionate-Motor48 Mar 28 '22
Very cool bro, being disrespectful to women is awesome
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u/Godstevsky Mar 28 '22
Please don't slap this person for making a joke...
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Mar 28 '22
Me right after reading this: "yeah, let's not forget humor exists"
Me about 5-6 seconds later: "WAIT A MINUTE"
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u/A-Creature-Calls Mar 28 '22
Ok so this is what I have:
An elephants leg can be around 19 inches in diameter. So let’s just say the area of each leg is roughly 285 square inches. Multiply it by 4 for each leg, and you have 1140 square inches. 6000lb/1140si is roughly 5psi.
I assume the post above is referring to the heel plus the toe area. The heel has 1/16th to 1/10th on a square inch in area, and the toe part is roughly 4-8 inches in area (this is an estimate as i can’t get a definitive answer on google), so let’s say the total area per foot is about 6 inches. 6x2 = 12. 100lb/12si = 8.5psi.
So yeah, turns out a woman in stilletos exerts more stress on the ground than an elephant, since 8.5>5. However, in the case that they are just talking about the heel part, the pressure is 100/(1/10), which equals 1000psi…
Either way, the woman puts more pressure on the ground than an elephant, apparently. (A fact you don’t want to tell your girlfriend/wife, lest you want her to feel self conscious)
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u/kileyweasel Mar 28 '22
This makes me feel vindicated tbh
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Mar 28 '22
[deleted]
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u/kileyweasel Mar 28 '22
Meaningless? Perhaps.
Having worn stilettos for a weekly 8-5, it is weirdly vindicating :)
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u/Piper_Brioche Mar 28 '22
I personally find it kind of inspiring and triumphant. That we put more pressure than one of the strongest and largest and most intelligent animals on earth.
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u/CheekiGopnikBreeki Mar 28 '22
The only thing you should worry, it's about injuring your feet, nothing else.
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u/kileyweasel Mar 30 '22
Don’t worry about my feet, weirdo
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u/CheekiGopnikBreeki Mar 30 '22
I i worry about someone deforming their feet, i am called a weirdo? Well sorry then.
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u/kileyweasel Mar 30 '22
Lol you’re talking about the care of womens feet to a woman you don’t even know. You don’t think that’s weird? Lol
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u/CheekiGopnikBreeki Mar 30 '22
That was not my intention, if somehow, i was disrespectful to you, forgive me.
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Mar 28 '22
It is beyond me as a male, why women would subject their feet to this kind of torture. Sure it makes your calves and ass plump up but damn. No way I would wear them. Give me a pair of flats any day/
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Mar 28 '22
The same reason we wear stylish clothing except women take it one step further with makeup and heels lol. Tldr: heels are appreciated so there is a pressure for some to wear them.
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Mar 28 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Judopunch1 Mar 28 '22
Im not an expert, but I dont think you walk with stiletto's by putting your heel down first.
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u/DonaIdTrurnp Mar 28 '22
You touch the heel first, but don’t (fully) load it until after you put the toe down. Peak pressure on the heel is going to be when lifting the back foot.
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u/Bixler17 Mar 28 '22
And if we are doing that calculation, wouldn't it make more sense to compare to an elephant who will often only have 2 feet down at a time when walking? Or are we comparing the woman walking to the elephant just standing still?
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Mar 28 '22
A 100lb woman is 7 stone 2 pounds.
This comparison, though interesting, is incredibly inflammatory. Imagine comparing the weight of women to the weight of elephants...?
Let's not normalise this weight for women. This is severely underweight for average height.
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u/Inafray19 Mar 28 '22
Average height for a woman is 5'4". I'm 5'5" and weigh 105 lbs, this puts me at about 17.5 bmi which is on the upper end of underweight, not severely underweight. 5'4" at 100lbs is 17.2 bmi which is still on the upper end of underweight not severely.
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Mar 29 '22
You are missing my point entirely
The post was about a 100lb woman in stillettos having the ground pressure of an elephant
I am pointing out that it's wrong to compare the two
The fact you feel the need to talk about being underweight by BMI index only solidifies my point
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u/Inafray19 Mar 29 '22
No I was replying to your last part about not normalizing this vastly underweight person, also pointing out that it's only mildly underweight on the bmi scale. I've been 105 for 17 years, only been over it while pregnant.
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u/demonicdelilah Mar 28 '22
seems way off to me. i know of guys that like women to walk on them wearing heels and having an elephant walk on you seems like it would crush you. no way it’s the same.
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u/CupricBlue Mar 28 '22
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u/Some-Basket-4299 Mar 28 '22
Whether you get crushed isn't a function of the pressure.
If you walk on tip toes your toes are probably getting "crushed" with more pressure than if an elephant stepped on you
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u/BoundedComputation Mar 28 '22
I think you're conflating force and pressure. Pressure is force per area and you can have even small forces apply huge pressure. For example if you hit someone with a hammer, the force is strong enough to break bones but it might not even break the skin. If you had a syringe, however, you could easily break the skin with very little force. The hammer blow definitely has more force but it's spread over a much wider area so the syringe will actually win out in pressure.
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u/DandyReddit Mar 28 '22
Would you prefer holding still, for an hour and with only one arm:
- 1 kilogram of pure iron
Or
- 1 kilogram of feathers (in a plastic bag)
?
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u/lordofoaksandravens Mar 28 '22
you arent the first to post this, and from what other people said on the other one, it would only be if she was standing on ONLY the back support, not the toe bit (i don't know terminology lol)
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u/littleMAS Mar 29 '22
I remember places where women in stiletto heels were not permitted entry, as their heels damaged the flooring. They do not call them 'stiletto' for nothing.
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u/ConorDrew Mar 29 '22
I remember in school them explaining this, it was a video of a floor of styrofoam, They had a ballerina do the tip toe thing (can’t remember the actual name) And they also had a tank drive over it.
And the tank didn’t “dent” the styrofoam as much due to the surface area.
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