Saxone Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Why is there more pressure under a woman's stiletto high heel shoe than an elephants foot? Pressure is exactly equal to force divided by surface area. If that fact is true it is because the whole elephants weight (force) is spread out over four feet of relatively large surface area. A womans weight is only on her two (smaller) feet. If she leans on the back of her high heels all the weight (force) shifts to the tiny points of the stillettos. To find out how much more pressure is on the stillettos, just take the weight divided by the approximate surface area of the high heel. But since elephants weigh up to 13000 pounds, about 100 times what a woman weighs the heels would need to be (since only two heels to an elephants 4 feet) about 50 times smaller than an elephants foot to get equal pressure so it seems possible. Saxone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euchrid Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Why is there more pressure under a woman's stiletto high heel shoe than an elephants foot? Pressure is exactly equal to force divided by surface area. If that fact is true it is because the whole elephants weight (force) is spread out over four feet of relatively large surface area. A womans weight is only on her two (smaller) feet. If she leans on the back of her high heels all the weight (force) shifts to the tiny points of the stillettos. To find out how much more pressure is on the stillettos, just take the weight divided by the approximate surface area of the high heel. But since elephants weigh up to 13000 pounds, about 100 times what a woman weighs the heels would need to be (since only two heels to an elephants 4 feet) about 50 times smaller than an elephants foot to get equal pressure so it seems possible. Saxone It's simple physics. Check this out:- http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/JackGreen.shtml Always High-Heel Responsibly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yozz Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Let us just compute it. In metric of course. If the elephant is 6000 kilos and has four feet of each about 30 cm diameter we are talking about a bit more than 700 square cm per foot. This means that we have a bit more than 2 kg/cm^2 if the elephant stands on his 4 feet. If he stands on only two feet it is still 'only' 4 kg/cm^2 If someone of 50 kg puts her weight on two stilettos of 1 cm^2 each we have 25kg/cm^2 which is 12 times as much. Strong wood can sometimes handle this. Most damage to wooden floors however gets done because the person doesn't always put the heel down flat. If the heel tip is made of metal it usually has sharp edges and when the tip is put down under an angle the actually surface is considerably smaller and hence the pressure is much higher. That will leave a mark in any type of wood. When the elephant does not put his foot down straight still most of the bottom touches the ground, hence things are still not very bad. Y. Raise your voice. Put on some heels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 This is a little sexist. This discussion about a lady (in heels) and elephants (no gender noted) what about guys ? in heels obviously! Just be happy the elephant is not wearing heels on your floor. Going back too many years I remember my junior school headmaster requesting our mums not to wear stilettos to school hall events in an attempt to save the wooden floors, never extended it to dads (circa '64). Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxone Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 Nice one Al but I would much rather have a lady walk on my wooden floor in her stilettos than an elephant lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Nice one Al but I would much rather have a lady walk on my wooden floor in her stilettos than an elephant lol. Couldn't agree more. I'll go for elegance not the efferlump every time:smile: Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwhite44 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 ...what about guys ? in heels obviously!...l I've always wondered, from an engineering point of view, what weight are are shoes/boots with heels designed to carry? I'd guess that for a given shoe size, a male wearing it will probably wear more than a women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roniheels Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I've heard about the potential damage to wooden floors by stiletto heels. I've seen signs on some older stores with wooden floors saying no stiletto heels allowed. I will leave all of this discussion to the experts. I was terrible in physics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yozz Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 This is a little sexist. OK OK, If you have a 150 Kg linebacker, the numbers go up by a factor 3. I have no idea what the average weights are for male or female elephants. Y. Raise your voice. Put on some heels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I've seen some big women in thin heels trying to be elegant, we are not so extreme in reality. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BZHeels Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Hello, All! I'm BZHeels, a shoe lover with engineering degrees. I love these kind of questions! Here's my take... First, forget the elephant and truck tire comparisons -- you're going to have neither an elephant or truck on your wood floors!! Next, I hate to divide, multiplying is so much easier, especially if you're not an engineer, scientist, or math major. So let's start out simply -- a 1/4" x 1/4" square heel tip. 0.25 x 0.25 = 0.0625 This is what you get when you punch it on your calculator. Now hit the "1/x" key and you get "16". That is the Pressure Multiplier (PM) for that heel. In other words for every pound of weight the woman puts on the heel, the floor "feels" 16psi. I built a split scale device to weigh a woman's weight on heel vs toe. My best friend stands heel-heavy, so maybe 65% of her weight on the heel. As an example, standing on one foot at a party: 0.65 x 180 lbs = 117 lbs on her heel tip. PM = 16, so 16 x 117 = 1872 psi. Now is the tip metal or plastic? Metal will leave a cleaner imprint vs worn plastic heels. Of course, I know women with heels that are thinner and the PM is between 35 and 40. So, with the thinner heel, 35 x 117 = 4095psi. But, what if she's walking. We measure about 150% of her weight on a full stride -- does her heel hit with all that weight?? If it does then we have 180 x 1.5 x 35 = 9450 psi. If we consider the tilt of the heel when it hits?? I don't know, maybe 70% of tip hits?? 13500 psi then... So, the factors are many: 1. her weight 2. exact area of heel 3. % of her weight on heel tip 4. heel tip metal or plastic? Worn or new? 5. standing or walking? 6. walking really fast (late for an appt) 7. dancing? stomping? dancing while semi-drunk?? Also, some women love to balance on their heel tips while leaning back on a counter -- like in your kitchen with your pretty floor! Some do it without thinking and some twist on the tips as well! Most do it without realizing it, just a force of habit! So, the question comes down to what Pressure Multiplier does the spike heel tip start to damage floors?? Cheaper floors could be as low as 10 -- where 100 bls on the heel tip generates 1000psi. I watched 6 women reduce a brand new pine floor to 1000's of heel prints over the course of a house warming party -- this floor was so soft I calcualted from my date's heels that it only took 600psi to leave a nice imprint. I hope I've confused you all!! :0) It's hard to keep track of what you're typing in this small window! BZHeels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwhite44 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 I love the technical explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sscotty727 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Interesting topic. I submitted it to mythbusters as a suggestion. Maybe they will do it. If you can, jump on over there and chim in and maybe if we all vote for it we can convince them to do it! http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=6941912904&f=9701967776&m=50419937301&r=50419937301#50419937301 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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