Eli5. Why are sports wheelchairs slanted inwards compared to traditional wheelchairs?
In: Engineering
Its to do with the distribution of forces that the wheelchair goes through. In a sports wheelchair, it is assumed that the user needs a more dynamic wheelchair with the ability to take sideways forces, as they will be leaning/throwing/catching and making contact with other players. It Wouldn’t be helpful if all the wheelchairs kept falling over during sports games.
The angled wheels achieve this in two ways. The first is it makes the base off the wheelchair wider. Things with a wider base take more force to tip (when being pushed from the side).
Secondly the angle of the wheels changes how far it would need to be tipped before it begins to fall over.
These allow things like better turning when going fast, and a more stable platform to throw/catch from.
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