ALWAYS IN SUPPORT OF STABILITY AND BALANCE
In physics, the base of support (BOS) of an object (which would include people by definition), is the area "captured" between the environment and part of the body. It also includes any part of another object/item that is both in contact with your body and the environment at the same time. The BOS serves us in our efforts to create stability and balance, combined with our COG (see a separate post about the center of gravity).
A person standing on their two feet without holding on to anything else, and without anything penetrating the ground, creates a BOS that is the area captured between the outlines of their feet. While this is enough to allow us to stand without any stability or balance challenges (under normal conditions), it is not the greatest BOS a person can create.
Advertisement
We deliberately causes changes to our BOS in order to either increase stability and balance or decrease them. The greater the BOS, the greater the chances of stability and balance, while the smaller the BOS, the lesser the chances of being stable and balanced. There are three main ways to increase a person's BOS:
Increase the extent of body surface area that is in contact with the environment
Increase the amount of objects that are both in contact with the body and the environment
Increase the extent of penetration into the environment (for example - into the ground)
Applying this knowledge while using nothing but out body and the ground, a person would increase their BOS the most by laying on the ground with their hands and legs spread-out as far as possible and the finger and toes penetrating the ground (if possible). Since humans have learned to manipulated the environment, including any other objects within it, we have also learned to use objects within the environment to increase our BOS for stability, or decrease our BOS for less stability and more movement. We have also learned how to create, design, and engineer objects to influence the BOS.
For example, crutches are a tool created to increase the stability of those injured and experiencing stability challenges. By being in physical contact with the crutches, and the crutches being in physical contact with the ground, the BOS of the person grows from being the area captured between the feet (naturally) to a bigger area (bigger BOS) captured between the feet and the bases of the crutches. Another example is the fact the humans use poles and handles for increased stability. As we stand within a moving bus or train, we hold on to poles and/or handles. This means that our BOS has just increased substantially to include anything and everything captured between our body, the bus/train, and the environment. The bigger the BOS of the objects we hold, the greater the overall BOS created.
We often decrease our BOS in order to create instability, that serves us when we wish to move or create motions. Since a reverse relationship naturally exists between greater static stability and motion. Thus, we may conclude that living life while transitioning between situations that require movement, and situations that required lack of motion, means constant changes to our BOS to support the required stability or instability.
Lastly, we most likely make changes to our COG and BOS at the same time in order to truly influence out stability or lack thereof as much as possible, since there is a relationship between where you COG "falls" in relation to your BOS, and the extent of stability created.
Advertisement
Comments