# Why is my elevator dispensing quarters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198 "2012-10-19T04:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/61 "2012-10-27T00:38:13Z")
> [@wellanuff](#): > > Huh? > > Oh, I get it,. I think not. A reference to a possible dead bank robber. > [@Hamlet](#): > > HAMLET: > In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger > find him not there, seek him i’ the other place yourself. But > indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall > nose him as you go up the stair, into the lobby. The benefit of a [classical education.](http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-iv-scene-iii) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/62 "2012-10-27T16:06:36Z")
Translation for the benefit of non-classically-educated: Dead people smell bad, donchano? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/63 "2012-10-27T16:55:35Z")
I suggest replacing them with pennies. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/64 "2012-10-27T17:25:03Z")
Are you about 5’10 with short hair because I think Chris Hansen is on TV talking about you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/65 "2012-10-28T00:53:16Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I suggest replacing them with pennies. I am Classically Educated Carnivorousplant, and I approve this message. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/66 "2012-10-28T19:49:41Z")
How fast does the elevator descend? I remember riding the Tower of Terror at Disney World, and if you held coins in your hand during descent, they would float. Perhaps if the elevator car is not perfectly level and stops suddenly, the floating coins could go askew and roll into the grate when they fall. As to why it’s only quarters, it may have something to with the nearby laundry room. The full explanation is no doubt a unique and complex combination of unlikely events that could not be duplicated outside of a laboratory. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/67 "2012-10-28T22:27:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I think not. A reference to a possible dead bank robber. Do you think and elevator shaft could play host to a very politic convocation of worms? Or is the cable just carried on a worm-driven pulley? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/68 "2012-10-28T23:06:17Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Do you think and elevator shaft could play host to a very politic convocation of worms? Or is the cable just carried on a worm-driven pulley? Worms, certainly; a worm driven gear or pulley, I doubt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![conway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/69 "2012-10-29T22:16:47Z")
[QUOTE= carnivorousplant] A petty ante robber, fleeing the gendarmes, hid in the elevator shaft and was killed. Everytime the car passes his body, some of the loot falls into the car and rolls to the grate. [/QUOTE] > [@a35362](#): > > _Penny_ ante. _Quarter_ ante. Have you not been reading this thread?? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/70 "2012-10-30T02:40:48Z")
> [@conway](#): > > _Quarter_ ante. Have you not been reading this thread?? My apologies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/71 "2012-10-30T09:06:57Z")
…there’s a hole in your pocket. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/72 "2012-10-30T13:46:02Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …there’s a hole in your pocket. . . .dear Liza, dear Liza . . . ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/73 "2012-10-31T20:19:40Z")
I have a gnawing suspicion that this somehow has something to do with [the fork thief](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=670293). ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/74 "2012-11-01T02:03:27Z")
I thought we might have a breakthrough when I saw [this particular user name/post title combo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=670653). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/75 "2012-11-04T22:20:14Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > How fast does the elevator descend? I remember riding the Tower of Terror at Disney World, and if you held coins in your hand during descent, they would float. Yeah, but that’s because _that_ elevator is pulling you down faster than gravity. Any normal working Elevator goes nowhere near the speeds…hopefully 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/76 "2012-11-04T23:22:47Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Yeah, but that’s because _that_ elevator is pulling you down faster than gravity. Any normal working Elevator goes nowhere near the speeds…hopefully 😛 I was going for ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198/77 "2012-11-05T00:14:16Z")
I’m no Quantum Physicist, so I’m going to be a bit speculative here. Maybe some real Quantum Physicist can help me out with any rough edges in my theory. Something about that niche behind the grate in the elevator is causing the Quantum Probability Density Function of things to be a slight bit higher (“denser”) there than elsewhere in the universe. Maybe there’s a higher Quantum Flux Density Pressure in the region. (Maybe it only happens as the elevator passes a certain floor.) (ETA: In plain English: Things are just a bit more likely to be there than they would normally be, for some reason.) All the quarters in the world (indeed, all the quarters in the universe) don’t have precise locations. They have Quantum System Equations describing them, which among other things give the probability of them being in a particular region of space at any moment. (See [my earlier post here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15361052#post15361052) for a more detailed discussion of that idea, in a slightly different context.) Now the function might be just a tiny miniscule bit denser there for some reason. It wouldn’t take much – say if the Quantum Probability Density function is 0.0001% denser there (I’m just making up a number out of my ass here; I wouldn’t know what a realistic figure would be) – just a tiny bit more, with so many quarters at probabilistic locations everywhere. This could probably suffice to explain the occasional quarter (just one a day you say?) being (more probably) there instead of somewhere else. That’s all it would take, I think. ETA: > [@laina\_f](#): > > I was going for ridiculous. THIS is how to be ridiculous, **laina\_f** 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-elevator-dispensing-quarters/638198.md?page=3)