# Physics question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physics-question/187212>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physics-question/187212 "2003-07-09T12:37:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physics-question/187212/21 "2003-07-11T11:24:27Z")

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Aha!

By ‘higher on the other side’ you mean ‘higher than it would without the flywheels’, as opposed to ‘higher than the point from which it starts’, don’t you?

Yes, the flywheels will make it go higher because they add mass to the system, without proportionally increasing the losses due to friction and air resistance.

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**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physics-question/187212/22 "2003-07-11T16:34:53Z")

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I was ignoring air resistance, and dealing only with friction on the surface. Why wouldn’t the flywheel-laden rod proportionally increase the losses due to surface friction?

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**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/physics-question/187212/23 "2003-07-11T17:19:06Z")

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To complicate things even further, wouldn’t it just end up _slipping_ at some point, not rolling?

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