In the Summer 2008 Olympics, American swimmer Michael Phelps had a record breaking performance in which he won 8 gold medals. His most dramatic victory was the 100m butterfly in which he had a come from behind victory to win a photo-finish by 0.01 seconds. No human can detect 1/100th of a second with the naked eye, which is why we use electronic timing in sporting events.
Here is a (slightly dramatic) video of the race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIAg9wcriro.
Phelps is on top. Cavic is on the bottom.
Official results from espn.com
Michael Phelps - 50.58s
Milorad Cavic - 50.59s
1/100th of a second doesn't seem like much, so here's how we can use physics to make it more concrete. Phelps finished a 100m race in 50.58 seconds, so he was moving at an average of 1.977m/s. So in 0.01 seconds, he moves 0.01s*1.977m/s = 0.0197m, which is just under 2cm. 2cm isn't a lot, but it's more concrete than a time that's quicker than a human can detect.
Your job is to find another close timed race and get the official results with a picture. Make an estimation of how much distance separated first and second place. Please post the results, the picture, and your estimation.
In class, we will break down our visual estimations with some mathematical estimations.
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