Cleats: The Traction Action

Overview

Objectives/Goals Which number and length of cleats provide the ideal amount of friction to maximize athletic performance? Methods/Materials Materials: Wooden block (25cmx8cmx5cm), 5 wooden dowels (1m long x .5cm diameter), drill and .5 cm drill bit, safety goggles and aprons, spring scale, ruler, grass-dirt surfaces Methods: 1. On underside of block, drill as many holes as the block can fit. 2. Cut as many 1 cm pieces of dowel as holes on the block. 3. Place one dowel piece in one hole. 4. Drag at constant velocity at measured distance while attached to spring scale. 5. Record spring scale reading; repeat two more times; average. 6. Repeat steps 3-5 adding one more dowel piece each time. 7. Graph results and conclude ideal number of cleats. 8. Cut the ideal number of dowel pieces at .5, .75, 1, 1.25, and 1.5 cm lengths. 9. Place the dowel pieces of one length in the block. 10. Drag block at constant velocity for measured distance while attached to spring scale. 11. Record scale reading, repeat two more times, average. 12. Repeat steps 9-11 for each dowel length. 13. Graph and conclude the ideal lenght of cleats. Results # of cleats/coefficient of friction 1/.745 2/.864 3/.852 4/.852 5/.913 6/1.017 7/.962

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Applied Mechanics/ Structures & Mechanisms/ Manufacturing · Entry S0202

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Engineering projects
• CSEF Engineering projects
• Every CSEF 2003 project