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GoddessManko -> RE: Question to the physicists in the house (2/11/2014 5:19:12 PM)
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{ To understand how the Jesus lizards move across the surface of the water without tipping over, Hsieh and Lauder filmed them with a high-speed video camera as they ran across a water tank. The water was sprinkled with tiny, reflective glass beads that sparkle when lit.
Using computer software, the researchers are able to overlay adjacent video frames to see how the beads move. This allowed them to calculate the forces generated throughout the lizards' stride.
The stride is divided into three phases: the slap, the stroke, and the recovery. During the slap the foot moves primarily vertically downward. During the stroke it moves primarily backward. And during the recovery the foot moves up and out of the water, returning to the start position of the next step.
According to Hsieh, the lizards need to generate forces during these phases sufficient to overcome the challenges of staying on top of the water and upright. "It sounds obvious—you can't run if you're falling over—but it's even a greater challenge for the lizards, because they are dealing with a squishy surface," she said. } - cited from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/1116_041116_jesus_lizard_2.html
As for a human being, a lot of factors would have to be considered like weight and density (we weigh a LOT more than a 7 oz lizard), velocity, center of gravity and momentum, also if they can effectively generate the same forces as the lizard itself, sounds like a difficult feat in my book but not entirely impossible. :)
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