Okay, possibly this is the stupidest question ever posed, but…
Imagine the land between San Francisco is completely flat. No hills, no Grapevine, nothing. Both SF and LA are at sea level. Now imagine you’re going to ride your bike from SF to LA and back again.
Here’s my question:
- The ride from SF to LA is harder.
- The ride from LA to SF is harder.
- The two legs of the ride are equally difficult.
My mental model is that the ride from LA to SF is harder. Darin says I’m wrong, that maps of the world are purely by convention.
As I drove yesterday I thought about why I imagine going from LA to SF is harder. Was I somehow applying the law of gravity to a north-south axis? Then I realized I had a mental model that rivers like the Mississippi go north to south (though that’s probably because they get such a good headstart coming off the Canadian mountains). Except, of course, the Nile, which goes south to north…and in my mental model of the world, the Nile is below the Equator. (I know this is wrong. I knew the second I vocalized it. But I had never thought about it explicitly before.)
More data: it takes about a tank of gas to go from our house to LA. I filled up right before leaving both times and the gas light came on toward the end of both trips. But I had to stop to refuel on the way home yesterday because the indicator dipped below the E mark—but on the way to LA it didn’t get that low. Did I use more gas coming home because I was coming north or because I drove, um, speedier?
Can anyone help me out here?
Is it less hilly going down to LA? I would imagine that as you go up in the hills and higher altitude, you use more gas to power your vehicle up against the flow of gravity. Also, was the weather any different? Rainy? Windy? That could have affected your trip gas usage as well.
Unless, of course, you put a baby elephant in your trunk before returning to the Bay Area.
That reminds me of how trips from the east to the west (in planes) take longer than the west to the east (or is it vice versa?) because you’re working against the flow of air and have to overcompensate.
Did you travel at the same time of day for both trips? If you traveled during less traffic for the SF – LA trip, you may have stopped / started less often, and therefore needed less gas. Also, did you follow any 18-wheelers on the SF-LA trip? If so, the truck’s ability to block wind resistance for the car behind it can reduce the car’s use of fuel (which is why a lot of cars hang in behind trucks on the interstate).
I assume it is equally hilly going from LA to SF and vice versa, because both are at sea level.
As far as I can remember, I’m pretty sure I stopped more on the SF-LA trip, because of the parking lot on the Pacheco Pass — lots of starting and stopping there.
I’ve never seen such an extraordinary amount of effort put into a website consisting of such uninformed drivel. I really hope the home schooling idea was not pursued.
LOL!!! I’ll just add fuel to the fire here. 😀 We use 3/4 a tank of gas going north from Lafayette to Leesville. We barely use 1/2 a tank on the way back…going south. Whatever funky theory is formed in your head, it must apply to me, too. lol! Maybe it’s all a theory of relativity! Ha!
About 20 years ago I was driving from San Diego to Los Angeles with a world class neuroscientist and he was wondering the same thing, was it harder to go North than South? We were puttering up the 405 in his VW camper.
I live in between, in Santa Barbara, and for me it’s difficult to go in either direction.
The Earth is thickest around the Equator, so, Los Angeles is further from the Center of the Earth than San Francisco. It’s probably more than 1,000 feet different, since I know the top of Mount Everest is closer to the Center of the Earth than some mountain in Ecuador.
I don’t know if it’s true between LA and San Francisco, but my housemate biked from SF to Seattle and it is harder. There are headwinds that come from the north…it has nothing to do with hills or anything else. I would guess that would also be the case along the coast in California.