Skip to main content
edited tags
Link
Emilio Pisanty
  • 135.3k
  • 2
  • 73
  • 213
Source Link
knzhou
  • 105.1k
  • 19
  • 31

Two similar-looking mechanics questions are not duplicates

This question about which way a bicycle will move when the pedal is pulled horizontally was closed as a duplicate of this question about how a yoyo will move when it is pulled horizontally.

They are not the same question, because a yoyo is a rigid body, while a bicycle is not even close. The correct answer is that in mid gear, the answer is the same as in the yoyo case, but for low gearings the bike will move forward while the pedal moves backward (so the string still ends up going backward as required).