In $1 words (I hope):
First of all, walking on an escalator is not harder than walking on stairs, because your speed <i>relative to</i> the two is the same.
1. The force of gravity always remains constant, regardless of the direction you are traveling. Sometimes it works in your favor (going down), sometimes not (going up). But it never changes.
2. You cannot realistically double the force of gravity, however, if you were accelerating UP at 32' per second squared, you would experience the <i>feeling</i> of double that of normal gravity.
3. At 45 degrees, it's still pulling you down at 32' per second squared. it's easier to walk at 45 degrees compared to straight up because for every foot uphill you walk, you also walk a foot horizontally. However, in order to travel the same distance vertically, walking at 45 degrees requires you to walk twice as far (total distance) That's the give-and-take. Think of using a board as a ramp up to something - the more gentle the slope, the longer the board you'll need, and the more steps you'll need to take to reach your destination.
4. If you are traveling on a train and start running, your speed is the sum of the train's speed plus your speed (or <i>minus</i> your speed - if you run from front to back). The force of gravity is still constant.
As <b>greytone</b> accurately pointed out, the <i>actual</i> force of gravity is 32 feet per second per second (or 9.8 meters per second per second)<i>at sea level</i> (and at the equator, I think). Naturally, this force actually changes relative to your distance to the center of the earth. However, for all practical purposes, I think it's safe to assume it's a constant. Most of us will never vary that distance by more than 8 miles or so, and considering the distance to the center of the earth is close to 15,000 miles, that's not much of a difference.
There - that's not as accurate or eloquent as <b>greytone</b> put it, but I hope it helps clarify some things.
__________________
If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors:
"If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too."
It won't hurt your fashion sense, either.
|