Suggests then that repeating the experiment with a soft-surface table should reduce or eliminate the speed difference between the two ladders, if the rebound is the issue.
Better yet, does the ladder hitting the table obtain most of its speed advantage with the first few rungs when they are hitting a solid table rather than a shifting flexible pile of rungs that give way?
They were probably filmed while falling at terminal velocity.
Since heavier objects have a higher terminal velocity and the two ladders have the same weight, they have the same speed in the beginning.
But as the left latter hits the table, it gets lighter, while still carrying the higher momentum, and thus falls faster than right one.
I’m not a physicist, just a 24 year old dude from Germany who likes physics; but, with my limited knowledge, I think that this is the most plausible answer.
But only if they were falling at terminal velocity of course, otherwise I do not know.
Hi J0ker666, welcome to the Straight Dope.
I don’t think the two ladders could be at terminal velocity, because that necessarily means there’s enough wind resistance to counteract the force of gravity, and in that case the lower rungs of the ladder would get a disproportionate amount of the drag, and would be closer to the rung above it.
Hey, thanks mate, I made an account just to answer this. Are those types of questions something that is discussed often in this forum? I really like physics and would love to discuss similar cases.
You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that.
But I have another theory, now that I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I think I know why it ends up being faster in the end. It does have something to do with the weight. And why the spurs are attached at such an angle.
When the spurs collide with the table, some of the energy is thrown back onto the spur. Since the spur is much lighter and has less resistance than the table, obviously. Because the spur now throws some of the kinetic energy, which simply continues downward for the right ladder, onto the higher side as it rotates, pulling it slightly downward, while also not hindering it from falling because the strings are flexible in one direction, they can pull but not push, the left ladder has more kinetic energy downward than the right ladder. Only a little more, but still more.
At the beginning, where it still has a lot of weight, this small bit of energy does not yet manage to pull the entire ladder down in full weight. But as the weight of the ladder decreases, because it is already partly on the table, this pull gains more and more power and finally manages to make the ladder go down much faster towards the end.
This is my new theory, which would also explain why the spurs are attached at an angle.
disclaimer: I didn’t read all the thread, but the falling chain ladder reminds me of a dispute between Steve Bloom and Electroboom about how chain fountains work. So it may be of some interest, even if not directly related.
Here’s a link to a playlist of their videos about it. (The 7 videos are between 40 seconds and 22 minutes)