What requires more energy?

Question

My friend thinks he's all smart and tells me according to physics, playing an intense game of basketball for and hour requires more energy than running on a treadmill for and hour or swimming for an hour, he tells me its better and it requires more power. I know its not true, y do u get so much more exhausted while running and swimming then But he uses all these dumb equations. How do I say that running or swimming requires more energy, or power, or work or whatever physics term he wants to use.

he uses equations like power equals work/time and energy=.5mv^2
and he tells me it requires more energy to accelerate than travel at a contant velocity

Answer 1

Energy expended all depends on how intensely you play basketball, run, or swim. He can claim that basketball entails acceleration. However, it also entails brief lulls in the activity that the runner and lap swimmer do not have.

Answer 2

Energy use is the same as calories burned.

Look at the web links below. It shows 130, 155, and 190 pound person with various activities with various intensity levels.

Its conclusion is that running or swimming at a very high rate WILL burn more calories than basket ball, so you are correct.

Of the activities listed, running at a rate of a mile every 5.5 minutes for an hour burns the most caleries.

Answer 3

Your friend is correct, actually. You see, in running and swimming, you maintain constant repetition of one activity; in running, it's moving your legs and for swimming, it's repeating a stroke. In basketball, however, you must use different maneuvers. However, if he uses equations as proof, then he's probably wrong because it is impossible to define all factors of any certain action in reality.

You get exhausted from running and swimming because your body recognizes you're repeating actions and thereby exhausts more quickly, whereas in basketball, unexpected movements result in quicker uses of energy.

Also in basketball, there is no constant usage of energy - it is only an average that is constantly changing from minute to minute. In running and swimming, there is a fairly constant usage.

*edit*
If those are the equations he's using, then get your head on the right way. He is not defining how much energy you use in those activities; he is using laws of physics to prove his point.

Answer 4

I would think it would be quite difficult to estimate the amount of energy used in the various activities. Can you give more detail on what equations he is using?

Answer 5

I agree with your friend, running and swimmimg conserve energy while basketball (competitive ) expends all you have. Ask a Professional basketball player who runs and swims.