• Zagorath@aussie.zone
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    4 days ago

    Out of interest, how do tyre microplastic emissions scale with weight, tyre width, speed, etc.? Just how much better than cars are bikes in this specific respect?

      • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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        3 days ago

        Exponential? You sure? A lot of things like this go up with the 2nd or 4th power of weight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an exponential increase before.

        • asret
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          2 days ago

          What do you think exponential means?

          • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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            1 day ago

            It means nx, where nb is a fixed constant and X is the variable we’re interested in. By contrast, damage to roads is proportional to x4, which is not exponential.

            • asret
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              1 day ago

              Thanks. That helps. I guess I’m just used to less precise usage, whether something is linear, greater than linear (exponential) or less than linear (logarithmic). I don’t often hear people talk about polynomial growth.

              • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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                24 hours ago

                Yeah I’ve seen the less precise usage before. I push back on it whenever I can, because the difference between exponential growth and quadratic or quartile growth is pretty significant. But it’s especially bad in a context like this where someone specifically asked in what manner something scales, which is a question that (to my mind) clearly indicates a desire for the specific nature of the growth, particularly given the well-known quadratic growth of air resistance with velocity and the less (but still kinda) well-known quartic growth of damage to roads with axel weight.