/sci/ - Science & Math

Yes, because of gravity. You don't see any 5-foot-tall bugs walking around, because bugs have exoskeletons, and shit is too heavy when it gets large.

>>1638534
elephants are fast.

giraffes are fast

After a certain size square cube law will fuck you over and you'll need to be slow to prevent damage in case something goes wrong.

>>1638558
What he said, aslo bump

>>1638558
How fast are blue whales?

>>1638567
Could you please explain square cube law?

>>1638534
>massive
Key word.
It would take a lot of power to move one leg and keep the colossus stable during the movement of the leg. The speed of motion of the colossus would depend on its power output.

>>1638558
>giraffes are fast
Giraffes are pretty slim and lightweight.

>elephants are fast.
No they're not.

>>1638578
*a leg

>>1638583
Elephants can sprint at speeds of what, 40mph?

>>1638576
Just wiki it, not that hard to understand.

>>1638583
google elephant stampede, then tell me you would be able to out run a elephant.

>>1638597
>>1638583
None of that matters, because elephants and giraffes are quadrupeds, and the OP is asking specifically about bipeds.

T-Rex was a fairly large biped, and if it was a predator rather than a scavenger (last I checked the debate was still going on) then it would have to have been fairly fast. Of course, it had its tail for balancing.

For a colossus-sized organism, you'd have fuckhuge legs and very, very strong joints. The musculature would have to be as dense as rock to propel it at any meaningful speed.

>>1638614
So how fast would you say it would be at sprinting speed

>>1638534
now for something massive, if it can move. then yes it would be slow.

the "creatures" movements would be limited to mechanical wavelength speeds, for example the speed of sound.

thats still pretty fucking fast compared to humans.

well, I guess it depends on how the creatures are made

if they were made with earth biology, they would probably move very slowly or not at all. Muscles and bones both become exponentially less effective the larger they become. Thats why you dont see any 300 feet colossi wandering around.

If they were made with advanced technology or something, i guess they could be fast

I heard somewhere that if T.Rex ran at 25-30 mph and tripped it would hit the ground with 5G's deceleration

>>1638614
I gave a example of a large creature that can move fast, one was skinny and the other wasn't. whose to say a bipedal couldn't do that?

build a giant robot and see what happens.

Intuition tells me this thing is not going to be hauling ass

>>1638628
That's pretty fucking hilarious to be honest.

>>1638652
also no arms to break its fall

>>1638641
Intuition tells you wrong.

Just the fact that it's so large means it can move very quickly even if it doesn't appear to be, and this is simply because of its size. The thing can probably walk an entire kilometer in 10 steps.

Better question:

How the fuck can this thing manage winged flight?

>>1638661
Heathen magic.

Also, why do they have oil for blood?

>>1638629
because a creature with 4 legs has twice the support on the ground at any given time (that it isn't jumping, if elephants can jump) and can generate twice as much forward momentum with the additional legs, than a biped. A quadruped also has the option of spreading its weight between opposite-side legs, such as right-front and left-back, which makes it easier on the body. A biped must support its entire weight on a single leg, and so that leg must be stronger in relation to the quadruped's legs.

Have you ever seen a bipedal animal keep up with a quadruped? Have you ever managed to outrun a dog that isn't a purse-puppy? Every boxer I've seen can run circles around me.

>>1638619
I'd say 300 mph.

Seriously, that's an empirical question and giving you a number is just blind guessing. Even with complete bone structures of dinosaurs, we can't say how fast they could run because their muscle structure could be different than anything we've ever though of.

>>1638665
I think that calculating limb mass and therefore rotational inertia would tell you power requirements for moving at a given speed.

>>1638658

But think about it, how fast is that relative to its size?

Yeah it can cross a huge distance with each step but that's more because of its size than speed. Relative to something much smaller it's probably not all that fast.

>>1638661
>built of solid stone
>feather decorations
>it's flying

Hell, I imagine it flies the same way they made a stone statue come to life: magic.

>>1638665
*cough*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon
*cough*
excuse me.
*cough*

>>1638665
>300mph
>quarter speed of the sound barrier
>Wat

>>1638683

Not feathers. It's moss that has accrued on the colossi's surface.

>>1638661
Perhaps more importantly, what the fuck is an arrow going to do to it?

You'd better get yourself a cannon, girly.

>>1638696
I'm pretty sure it's just fur. If it was moss, it'd be everywhere on every Colossus, not just on certain spots. Not to mention I vaguely remember the game telling you that it was fur.

>>1638712
>HE DIDN'T PLAY THE GAME

You shoot at it to get its attention, then you leap on and stab until dead.

>>1638680

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v_YCSi8Cg0

1:45

How much rotational inertia would be needed to pull this off?

>>1638725

Dear god if that came down on you

>>1638688
>where runners compete against riders on horseback.
The fuckin' horse is carrying someone piggyback. Give the runners each a bag with 1/9th their weight in it, it'd be fair.
>In 1982, the route of the course was amended slightly to give a more even match between the competitors.
>15 minutes for the delayed start of the horses
>They had arbitrary penalties based on assumed stoppages for horse care
>Won by a human twice in 30 years
Go through that again?

>>1638737

You lose like half your health.

Or possibly more; I always got the lizard tails; I knew about them because I always read the game manuals (civilization was a bitch, by the way)

>>1638765
Reading the manual for Civ2: ToT was more fun than actually playing the game.

http://www.dailyfreegames.com/images/files/heir-5995.swf?gameid=

>>1638765
Civ is still a great game... I should play it again some time.

Well, there are some theories detailing different universes having different laws pertaining to gravity. Though if that was the case, the human in the game would also be effected.

>>1638761

pssst look up the record for the longest distance an animal has ran. Its a human.

>>1638761
they had the guiness book of records sprinter compete against a giraffe and a zebra, he be the giraffe, just...

the zebra let him take the lead, because it wasn't even trying, then kicked it into high gear and beat the sprinter no problem. sprinter went mental, couldn't take it and yelled at everyone. funny as hell

>>1638628
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus
>Farlow and colleagues (1995) have argued that a Tyrannosaurus weighing 5.4 metric tons (6.0 short tons) to 7.3 metric tons (8.0 short tons) would have been critically or even fatally injured if it had fallen while moving quickly, since its torso would have slammed into the ground at a deceleration of 6 g
>6 g

>A study in 2007 used computer models to estimate running speeds, based on data taken directly from fossils, and claimed that Tyrannosaurus rex had a top running speed of 8 metres per second (29 km/h; 18 mph). An average professional football (soccer) player would be slightly slower, while a human sprinter can reach 12 metres per second (43 km/h; 27 mph). Note that these computer models predict a top speed of 17.8 metres per second (64 km/h; 40 mph) for a 3-kilogram (6.6 lb) Compsognathus[87][88] (probably a juvenile individual).[89]

This is ruining my childhood. DAMN YOU WIKIPEDIA!

Also this, enjoyed having yours ruined too :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor

>>1639302
>pssst look up the record for the longest distance an animal has ran. Its a human.
How anthropocentric. And we were talking about speed, not "How far they have been seen running lately."
>Have you ever managed to outrun a quadruped
'Outrun' precludes it catching you early, like a horse would. Unless you're climbing, but that's not running.
>>1639359
>beat the sprinter no problem.
See, I don't know why they brought up marathons when we're talking about quadrupeds catching bipeds. I mean, it wasn't even a marathon humans win very often. If it were even you'd expect it to be better than 2/30.

UH it would recquire a shitload of food, so does it matter

Density-wise, I'm guessing a steel robot will be a hell of a lot higher than humans.

truth is that even though it would look like its moving slow you wouldnt be able to keep up with it. one slow step could be a thousand of yours and take 30 seconds to make that one step. however it takes you 3 minutes to cover the same ground at a jog.