The common gas-powered lawnmower blade spins at 3500 rpm. That's 58.33 revolutions per second. Personally, I think that it's way too many spins for the job at hand. To make my point... let's say the mower operator advances the machine at 12 inches per second: the blade will have spun nearly 700 times in those 12 inches, but, the long grass encountered by the edge of the blade is sliced off in the first revolution! How many unnecessary revolutions are made after the "cut"? I think calculus is required to figure that out, so I can't do it. (Give me numerals to add with a calculator and I'll struggle!)
But, I'm sure you've already caught on to the fact that every revolution cuts off some grass - it's just that at such high speeds it's only a miniscule amount of Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue, Ryegrass, whatever you got, including Creeping Charlie, that's cut off in one revolution. We use a great deal of power to "chip away" at our lawns. (BTW, to know just how teeny tiny that amount is, we would have to know the grass density in an area and then go to calculus again. I'm beginning to think maybe I should study calculus.)
I've thought about the RPMs of a lawnmower blade at least once every summer since I started cutting grass, circa 1974. I wonder... now that my son's got the chore, has he given it any thought? He told Barbara and I that he rather enjoys mowing the lawn - he puts on his headphones and "goes along at his own pace" (paraphrased - it was something like that).
Anyway, I hope that summer is treating you well. It's going well for me, thankfully. Until we meet again, I raise a cold beer to your good health and fortunes. May God bless us!
Reminder to self: I mustn't bring up my "RPM problem" with Mark and spoil the fun.
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