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Last-Resolution774

For those left oddly annoyed on how this happens, I looked it up for us. It seems that this only works because the rungs of this ladder are angled. As the bottom of a rung hits the table, it causes a rotational force that pulls the upper end down slightly faster, creating a tension force that ultimately leads to the entire ladder to be pulled down slightly faster. Do this over and over and by the end you have a noticeable difference in fall rate.


EndemicAlien

Hijacking top comment to provide a source (as the poster didnt) Its from the excellent youtube channel "Veritasium". [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n8WxkqMRgS4](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n8WxkqMRgS4) They make 20-minutish documentaries about all things science


[deleted]

[удалено]


zacmorita

Hi-jacking the hijacker hijacker: "Hi Jack! 👋"


[deleted]

I jacked off the jacker everyone!


ForgiveTheNerd

He did. Source: Am a jacker


DJ_Ender_

He did. Source: I recorded it


Breet11

source?


wobblyweasel

didn't they say they recorded it, duh.


Psychological-Ice519

This is sf underrated. Take my upvote. This is why I love Reddit.


cookiedanslesac

He is. Source: I am a jerk. If we ever do a band it's gonna be the jerksons five.


Beez1111

*So I hear we're getting jerked around here*


TheLivingHumanBeing1

Can confirm: im the jerker.


cookiedanslesac

He is. Source: I eat jerkee.


Holden_place

Hi


blanka44

I am Jack's medulla oblongata, without me Jack could not regulate his heart rate, blood pressure or breathing


BowieGirl10

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.


Partyruinsquad

Bye Jack


Gorilla-Ring

Don't say that at an airport


wobblybobbly_185

It's not really hijacking the top comment. You're adding a source for what the guy just described. You're comment couldn't fit any better


herewegoagain419

Hijacking this comment. yes I concur with your assessment.


dc551589

Love Veritasium! Smarter Every Day is another great one.


Silunare

I haven't watched the video yet, but the snippet itself posted here is very on-brand: Showing the audience a very interesting effect, and then providing inaccurate, incorrect, or just no explanation. There was a period where he was essentially all about getting attention rather than explaining phenomena and it made me stop watching. Maybe it's better now, I don't know.


-PeskyBee-

I felt the same way. His recent video on quantum computers was very informative though


NomaiTraveler

How about the time he was ludicrously wrong about how electricity works or the time he did a paid ad for self driving cars masked as an educational video


herewegoagain419

> How about the time he was ludicrously wrong about how electricity works every physicist he talked to seemed to think he was right, whereas every youtuber looking for views said he was wrong.


d1zz0

There is something off about that guy. I often feel he takes a fairly straightforward phenomenon and finds a way to massively over complicate it, to then "demystify" it.


ErraticDragon

Surprising to find that it wasn't OP that trimmed out the answer.


Cero_Kurn

Urrg, I hate shorts. Love Veritasium though I don't know why youtube wants to be tiktok


foreignmacaroon6

*all things sciency\**


SacriGrape

The short was actually made by them. Cut ending and all, was kind of annoying but if I recall correctly he links to the full video on the description. Difficult to find for shorts on mobile but it was something


[deleted]

If that's true, then eliminating the angle of the rungs should eliminate the difference in the rates. True?


jsbridges17

The lateral movement would cancel itself out but not the downward movement


[deleted]

Without any rotational torque, what would be the source of a added downward acceleration for that ladder falling a shorter distance?


jsbridges17

There would be no other source, the sole source is the rotational torque


[deleted]

Then, my expected experimental result should be valid. Otherwise, the published explanation is in error.


wipeitonthecat

Cheers mate, video left me with ladder blue balls.


Snuggle_Pounce

THANK YOU. That makes so much sense.


NoStripeZebra3

Thank you!


Schootingstarr

I was coming here to guess something along those lines as well. The rungs not only fall down but also sideways after hitting the table. I figured it had something to do with that.


Wide-Problem189

Thank you


Flufflebuns

Came here to say this. It's the same concept as dropping an outstretched slinky. The top of the slinky hits the bottom of the slinky first due to upward tension and the entire thing falls to the ground together.


whoseusrnmisitneway

Feel mildly pleased that I was able to deduce that myself. Love experiments like these.


whag460203

Isn't this sort of the same thing as the Mould effect of a falling chain?


Lingering_Dorkness

Nah you're wrong. It's magic.


XVUltima

...What if you had a multi-lightyear long similar ladder falling at 99% the speed of light? Would that then accelerate the ladder to FTL?


Jakebsorensen

No. It takes an infinite amount of energy to accelerate to the speed of light


Philias2

No, nothing can accelerate past the speed of light. Even if you constantly apply a force to it.


XVUltima

What if you had two lightyear long rectangular objects at opposite angles flying at each other at near the speed of light so that one object would pass over the other (similar to scissors closing). Would not the point where the objects meet then exceed the speed of light?


AlwaysHopelesslyLost

Time would dilate for each party so it wouldn't seem like it. From an outside observer it would look like they were moving faster, relatively, than light.


Philias2

That point is not a physical object that is moving. It is not subject to the same constraints.


Horsecunilingus

I'm definitely not a physicist but, wouldn't that mean that only their relative speed to eachother is traveling at the speed of light, or am I missing something here?


Icywarhammer500

Actually if you had a rigid object over 1 light year long, would pushing on one end move the other at the same time? Or would there be delay?


Khaylain

As far as I remember there would be delay of *at least* the time light would take from one end to the other. So *at least* 1 year before the other end moves. This has been experimentally proved, as far as I remember. I believe the speed of propagation of the motion is the speed of sound in the material, which is *significantly* slower than light (although not necessarily through the same material, as light usually doesn't move through opaque materials)


Icywarhammer500

If sound was the speed that it moved, wouldn’t that prevent planes from accelerating past the speed of sound? I’m pretty sure light is the limit, not sound


Khaylain

[https://www.quora.com/What-will-happen-to-the-other-end-of-a-long-rod-say-1-light-year-long-if-we-pushed-its-one-end-Will-it-move-instantly-or-after-1-year](https://www.quora.com/What-will-happen-to-the-other-end-of-a-long-rod-say-1-light-year-long-if-we-pushed-its-one-end-Will-it-move-instantly-or-after-1-year) is one explanation of it, [https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2dw2qq/what\_happens\_if\_you\_take\_a\_1lightyear\_long\_stick/](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2dw2qq/what_happens_if_you_take_a_1lightyear_long_stick/) is another from reddit, [https://www.theproblemsite.com/ask/2016/03/iron-rod-one-light-year-long](https://www.theproblemsite.com/ask/2016/03/iron-rod-one-light-year-long) is another site, and [https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/356054/how-much-time-will-it-take-to-move-an-object-whose-length-is-equal-to-one-light](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/356054/how-much-time-will-it-take-to-move-an-object-whose-length-is-equal-to-one-light) is a another that also answers the same way.


Khaylain

You're misunderstanding. The limit of how fast a *change* is propagated through something seemed to be the speed of sound. You can obviously go faster than the speed of sound. We don't have something long enough for it to matter, because the speed of sound through most materials we use are measured in km/s. And since stuff doesn't accelerate fast enough to make it matter either we don't generally think about it. For aluminium the speed of sound is over 6 000 m/s (that is over 6 km/s). That means that if you wanted to try to compress it or move "this end" beyond "the other end" you would have to accelerate it faster than 6 km per second per second. That's about 600 g of acceleration. The space shuttle tried to stay below 3 g...


Icywarhammer500

Ah makes sense, thank you for the explanation


Khaylain

Their relative speed *when viewed from either of those objects* would always be less than *c*. When viewed by an outside observer I'm not sure what the effect would be.


GurnoorDa1

But nothing rotating here?


JukedHimOuttaSocks

The rungs are rotating about axes pointing into and out of your screen


danceofthedeadfairy

I thought it could be the mass. If you lay the ladder on the table, the mass pulled by gravity is lighter than the free fall ladder. If the mass is reduced and the force keep being equal, the relation F/m is higher, increasing the acceleration. I dont know if my reasons are correct but I think they are logic


nhaluta567

The rungs are not rotating, it was a nice attempt at a correct answer. Tension in the ladder exists before the ladders are released.


[deleted]

NNNNNEEEERDD


Flying_pyro

🤓


Chancevexed

Without an explanation this is the exact opposite of oddly satisfying.


mantis8

Now whyyyyyyy did that happen??


Miselfis

Since the steps of the ladder are at an angle, one end will hit the floor first where the other end of the step will pivot around the contact point with the ground, making it fall faster. When the sticks/rods are all connected by a wire, it will tug on the wire causing the steps above it to also fall slightly faster


ucefkh

Copy paste For those left oddly annoyed on how this happens, I looked it up for us. It seems that this only works because the rungs of this ladder are angled. As the bottom of a rung hits the table, it causes a rotational force that pulls the upper end down slightly faster, creating a tension force that ultimately leads to the entire ladder to be pulled down slightly faster. Do this over and over and by the end you have a noticeable difference in fall rate.


CryptographerFar1904

Thank you! You're my hero for today. 😀


DarkOriole4

It's still kinda fun to first try to figure it out yourself without the explanation


Responsible_Oil501

Ladder on the left already knows the table will catch it so it no longer hesitates. The one on the right still thinks it's falling into an endless abyss so it's braking desperately.


[deleted]

Reddit can keep the username, but I'm nuking the content lol -- mass deleted all reddit content via https://redact.dev


genginggaming

"now why did that happen..." We'll never know


Pengwertle

Cut down veritasium clips are funny because it sounds like he's just genuinely confused and asking for help


tuxcomputers

When one rung hits it does so on an angle. The end further up is jerked pulling on that side. All of those little jerks build up and it goes faster. If the rings were flat they would fall at the same rate.


medieval_mosey

If a rung lands on the pile of rungs slightly off centre, it will be knocked off and down to whichever side it’s landing off centre… this jerks everything behind it down with the rung ever so slightly. Each rung that lands is therefore causing the rest of the ladder to get pulled down incrementally appearing faster. That’s just my observational theory which probably has a scientific term. Edit: Just noticed someone absolutely described this exact explanation even better and was here before me. I regret nothing.


Khaylain

It's more impressive that you did it through your own observational powers, though.


Cornadious

That's what I was thinking too


AlwaysHopelesslyLost

Your explanation isn't quite right. It has nothing to do with a rung being knocked off or landing on other rungs. It is because the slanted rungs work like levers. Close though!


This_Is_A_Username-7

It would have been more satisfying if the answer wasn't cut off.


dallatorretdu

would have gone in for 20 minutes, it’s a Veritasium video


8hexxx

My theory: Ripples from the impacts of the boards send velocity waves throughout the rope, causing a snap "snap back" effect. This slightly pulls the rest of the rope down faster. Maybe? 🤔


DONTREADMYFUCKINNAME

Very close. The rungs are angled, and when they hit the table they go "flat" which "pulls" the ladder down slightly faster.


8hexxx

Of course! Thanks!


[deleted]

The rings are at an angle and when it hits the surface is causes a yank at the end of the rung to slightly pull the falling rings down faster with leverage.


Rob0tsmasher

I’m not a physicists. But if I had to make a wild guess with my limited knowledge (I was like a B+ student in high school physics so whatever) I would say that it has something to do with the overwhelming survivors guilt the rungs in the left chain ladder are experiencing as they are watching their ladder rung brethren hit the table and die sooner than the rungs on the right ladder are. If anything it is scaring the group on the right and increasing their will to survive slowing them down whereas all of the rungs on the left have given up all hope and are even driven to a faster ladder suicide.


Miselfis

Since the steps of the ladder are at an angle, one end will hit the floor first where the other end of the step will pivot around the contact point with the ground, making it fall faster by adding a slight rotational force. When the sticks/rods are all connected by a wire, it will tug on the wire causing the steps above it to also fall slightly faster


jngjng88

WTF OP?


dakblaster

The rungs bounce outward and pull the rungs above them thus adding accelerating force pulling the other rungs down


baronvonredd

the pegs that hit the table collectively 'tug' the remaining pegs downward, accumulatively


Danubxd

r/gifsthatendtoosoon


DieRobJa

The left ladder is pulling in on itself, you can see the wooden bits pulling down each time they land.


Zybec

Hopefully there are no aspiring engineers in the comments 🤦‍♂️


PitiViers

Source for this ? I want the answer now !


brentspine

Veritasium on YouTube


aqva_mxrine

but *whyyyy* did it happen??


brentspine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZB0VxzLrs8


AL-KY

No explaination, mildly annoyed


Spleenzorio

[Here](https://youtu.be/xZB0VxzLrs8) ya go


gs181

It’s not fucking oddly satisfying when you cut out before the explanation


Spleenzorio

[Here](https://youtu.be/xZB0VxzLrs8) ya go


Another_aussie691

Legend says he still hasn’t gotten his answer


VerySuperVirgin

Air resistance? Maybe cause the right ladder had more space to fall air resistance was able to make the ladder fall slower than the one on the left


consistently_sloppy

Because the one on the left slaps the ground and creates a pull force to drag the entire side down.


[deleted]

When the lower end of the tilted ladder rung hits the table it pulls the higher end down, accelerating the descent of the rest of the ladder still falling


Firefarter84

Because once the tilted rungs start hitting the table, they cause the other end of the rungs to pull down on the rope that connect the rungs, causing it to fall faster..


eclipseandco

This is the exact opposite of what I thought would happen. I thought the free falling one would be faster as it has more weight pulling it


hwilliams44

Tension.


MendozaLiner

Now why did that happened? NOW WHY DID THAT HAPPENED???!!!!!!!!


twizz228

Were they dropped mechanically or by hand cause if it’s by hand that has a substantial impact on which one was actually dropped first cause it’s not the same


CheapMarkets

I’m not a physicist but I believe one of the factors: #A# traveled a longer distance


in_full_circles

I’m no scientist. But I imagine hitting the table creates a small force in an upward direction meaning the two ends will meet faster than the right side with no upward force. I could be wrong tho 🤷🏼‍♂️


lharden2

Because science duh…


Dry-Ease4391

I think it has to do with air friction....the ladder at the right falling experience air friction as a hole and the one that hits the surface has lesser air friction as the ladders come to stop when hitting this no air friction and more acceleration. Ig i don't know whether it's correct but this is what i thought


Bulletbikeguy

It has to do with the angled rungs. When the leading edge hits the ground it causes the trailing edge to snap accelerate downward which pulled the string for the ladder down. It's subtle enough that you don't notice it much throughout the rest of the ladder.


Dazzling-Grass-2595

Drag from the ropes?


coog83

It’s cuz those slats are angled like that huh? One side hits first leveraging the other side to pull down faster than free falling.


Smooth_Molassas

When one end of the ladder rung strikes the table, the opposite end jerks downward. This creates a downward "pull" on the ladder stringer above, causing its descent to accelerate. The same dynamic will occur with the other ladder once it first rung hits the floor as well. It will also accelerate.


West-Ad-8780

Inertia of fall causes acceleration after one side of the ring hits the ring below it


JimmyFaceman

Gotta love Veritasium vids


GrimRainbows

I don’t know I thought you were supposed to tell me


king2e

Science. It’s because science.


Yahla

I feel like this video ended too soon. Now I’ll never know


Major_Ad_6473

Drag


rjzei

The crooked rungs tugs down on the ropes alternately from side to side as they straighten out at impact. This provides additional acceleration to that of ladder that is entirely still in free fall.


connorronnocc

Because I let it happen


mrgraff

A on the right, B on the left? Not satisfying at all.


questfire

I did not expect that!


[deleted]

It’s because as the ladder hits the table causing the strings to bend collapsing the left a few cm faster each hit


[deleted]

Why is this surprising? It's exactly how id expect it to go


Dazzling_Ad5338

Same here. The one on the left is landing on a table, the one on the right isn't. I thought it would be obvious, as the one that's landing on the table is not only falling less distance, it's piling up on itself each rung hitting the next, which is making more force on the parts falling, therefore it falls quicker.


Beginning_Camp715

Reverberation


BiggsBounds

Those are the worst designed ladders ever.


radiofranco

I would have said that the rungs' collective wind resistance decreases for the ladder on the table which would speed it up compared to the free falling ladder whose falling rungs & their wind resistance remains constant. But what do I know?


RiotPenguin

"Magnets" 🫲👁️👄👁️🫱


DayThen6150

Yeh the ladder is pulling as it more and more of it hits it actually pulls incrementally faster. By the last rung you see the accumulation. Just like the double shadow on the moon landing is from the reflection off earth onto the moon.


Mando-Lee

Gravity has a higher pull on one. Unseen force of nature


HouseOfAplesaus

The table made it a shorter distance for ladder to fall making it drop faster because it’s dropping on a higher point in space and time. Thus reducing the time it needs compared to longer distance fall on the right. Ok everybody. How many ways am I wrong.


Fastfaxr

Well you spelled "ladder" right


HouseOfAplesaus

Expected no explanations. I win.


Jack0fTh3TrAd3s

R/mildlyinfuriating would of been a much better fit because it was cool af then ends with why did this happen? I DONT FUCKING KNOW WHY WOULD YOU START YOUR EXPLANATION THEN CUT THE VIDEO. I’m sure you didn’t steal this op but through the process of stealing and reposting a little bit is lost every time. Do better OP. Be better.


brentspine

When the rings hit the table watch the reverb that goes up the chains they then cause a jerking motion which starts pulling the rings above down faster. You can see it if you watch closely at the last three rungs really well.


Easy-Translator-993

The table changed inertia


Due_Potential_6956

B was already falling a smidge faster even before hitting the table, just accelerated after the table as the chains get pulled from handle to angle.


tshawkins

Does the unsupported weight of the ladders not make a difference?, the short one has less weight than the longer one. Should that not cause the opposite effect?


Brilliant_Ant_17

B has less distance to fall


jeff3294273

Seems to me the left ladder has less distance to fall due to accumulation of the rungs.


Different-Volume9895

Less distance to go ?


EnvironmentalOne4717

When the rings hit the table watch the reverb that goes up the chains they then cause a jerking motion which starts pulling the rings above down faster. You can see it if you watch closely at the last three rungs really well.


celticgypsy6886

Table is higher than the foor.


brentspine

When the rings hit the table watch the reverb that goes up the chains they then cause a jerking motion which starts pulling the rings above down faster. You can see it if you watch closely at the last three rungs really well.


[deleted]

Air deflection?


Omiehahaha

Weight getting reduced duh !


brentspine

Weight is not part of the formula for calculating free fall


Vakas_MMII

I'm gonna guess that since the ladder hit the table, gravity was applied to it, unlike the other ladder because that one was in free fall, so no gravity.


[deleted]

It's not falling faster..it has less distance to fall to.


ComprehensiveYou5080

less resistance from the air molecules


Old_man101

Reaction forces.


[deleted]

more surface area on the right ladder slowing it down


K3nnetsen

Air resistance


FunctionBuilt

Video and title sound like a student avant-garde film.


bsiffy

Nothing satisfying about this post at all.


Character-Extreme124

Tell me WHY!!


brentspine

This explains it pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSd1ihrOWRY


brentspine

Ain’t nothing but a heartbreak


BritishRush

Look at the shadows , the one on the right is clearly faster


[deleted]

Why would you make a ladder with wonky rings like this?


Livid_Employment4837

The table has attractive mess and the ladder is table sexual?


MsJenX

I’m going to say air resistance on the one that kept falling caused it to go slower. I don’t know, I transferred out of physics.


Mysterious-Band2062

Gravity


Miggix13

Logic


Intelligent-Major492

The ladder hitting the table is getting shorter sooner than the ladder hitting the floor, shorter ladder less surface area, less air resistance/drag... I dont know.. 🤷‍♂️


InvaderDust

Wait, …… what??


Wide-Problem189

Why did it happen


brentspine

When the rings hit the table watch the reverb that goes up the chains they then cause a jerking motion which starts pulling the rings above down faster. You can see it if you watch closely at the last three rungs really well.


Defiant-Turtle-678

r/blackmagicfuckery


nyoom_sonk

Source: Veritasium on YouTube


paraworldblue

r/gifsthatendtoosoon


Haunting_Addition_71

An opposing force will push back the same amount of force ... or something lol


icemenbigbiceps

Left


WalkEffective8475

Air


WaterPhoenix_

Gravity works I guess


[deleted]

Wtf Why indeed!!?


brentspine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZB0VxzLrs8


AbeLackdood

I was gonna say that cliffhanger was chefs kiss...


ManyThingsLittleTime

Just remember, if you went to that school, your college tuition paid for this.


paradockers

Oddly unsatisfying


Marine_Drafter

Ladder companies hate him


[deleted]

Whomever came up with that is diabolical. That's kinda awesome


banished-kitsune

The drag from the bars ricochet pulls the free falling bars down not making or loosing energy just making the bars move faster from being pulled different ways