Question about escalators.

[Rain Man]

I was going down an enormous escalator today, and started wondering. Is it possible to design an escalator that could cause a person to fall down it infinitely if they lost their footing? And if so,could such a design happen accidentally? Set aside the ability to cut power in this scenario, or interfere by sending a second person onto the escalator for a rescue.

[Chief Pagan]

Gaz

[Rain Man]

Gaz

Is that what happened to him? I wondered why he doesn't post any more.

[MahiMike]

I dunno but if they stop, you're stuck for hours.

[KChiefs1]

I dunno but if they stop, you're stuck for hours.


One of the worst 12 hours of my life.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dartgod]

I'm pretty sure I saw you doing exactly this.

Yep, here it is...

https://media0.giphy.com/media/jo85X2WzrGTDO/giphy.gif

[The Franchise]

They'd fall for a while but eventually they'd get stuck along the side and get pushed up to the top.

[Baby Lee]

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[Red Beans]

All I know is that escalators never really break down, they just become stairs.

[Rain Man]

They'd fall for a while but eventually they'd get stuck along the side and get pushed up to the top.

What if the escalator was wide, and the steps curved up at either end to keep a falling person in the middle?

[Nickhead]

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[BWillie]

Escalators. Kill as many people per year as terrorists in the United States. An ultimate danger to society. Should be banned and not allowed in our country

[listopencil]

You would escalate through the center of the Earth and end up in China.

[mlyonsd]

Read a story about a lady in China a few months ago that fell thru the landing of an escalator going up. The platform at the top gave way or something.

Evidently it kept running and chewed her up into pieces.

[Iowanian]

I think I've shared this story.

A year or so ago I was working a conference. As I was tearing down and leaving I found myself in a crowd of yammering people at the top of an escalator while pushing a cart piled with totes filled with materials...pens, pads of paper, candy dishes, they typical conference items..
Something happens, I stumble...time goes. Into slow motion as my unsecured totes begin to tumble and rumble and bumble...loudly. Hundreds of people are watching.

I know they didn't fall for infinity as I began to leap down to unpile the clog that was sure to slug the escalator.....but it sure as hell felt like forever....and the walk of shame after would have broken a lesser man.

[Spott]

We used to stop escalators at the mall when I was a kid by sticking thumbtacks into the handrails.

[scho63]

I have a small fear when going up a long escalator that I'm going to fall backwards. Several in DC area, one leaving the Metro and another at Dulles Airport were brutal for me as they were very long and a little steep. I would lean forward while holding onto the railing, which is never timed right with the step portion.

[Baby Lee]

We used to stop escalators at the mall when I was a kid by sticking thumbtacks into the handrails.

Used to be, and maybe still is, a pressure switch about 2-3 feet from both the bottom and top, behind the stainless steel skirt between the glass leading up to the handrail and the foot treads [circled in red below].

All you gotta do is smack it with your toe and it will stop the entire escalator.

Did it dozens of times as a teen.

[Sorce]

c5P-c7rc4bA

[Rain Man]

Good experiment. It appears that an infinitely falling escalator would need to be a bit steeper and maybe with more narrow steps.

[Marcellus]

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I probably laughed harder than I should have at this.

[Hoover]

My bad I thought this was about football contracts or something.

[Sorce]

Good experiment. It appears that an infinitely falling escalator would need to be a bit steeper and maybe with more narrow steps.

I think it would depend on how the person is falling, if they are kind of sliding then I would think it's possible. Tumbling head over feet you would need a really long escalator that travels at the average speed because the person would slow down their fall depending on how they land they would outpace the escalator in some instances and go slower than it at other times, you would need enough distance for those to even out.

[Rain Man]

I think it would depend on how the person is falling, if they are kind of sliding then I would think it's possible. Tumbling head over feet you would need a really long escalator that travels at the average speed because the person would slow down their fall depending on how they land they would outpace the escalator in some instances and go slower than it at other times, you would need enough distance for those to even out.

That's a good point. So what we're coming up with is an escalator with the following attributes:

1. Long enough that variations in tumbling speed will wash out.
2. Wide enough that the person can't get trapped on the edge.
3. Obviously no handholds or other things to grab onto.
4. Some camber in the steps to keep the person away from the edges.

I think we could build one. It might not be truly infinite, but for all practical purposes you could keep a person falling until the probability of a kill equals 1.

[Rooster]

There's not a year that goes by, not a year, that I don't read about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent--I don't care which one--but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator! - Brodie Bruce

[Beef Supreme]

I've watched enough live leak videos to know that escalators in China are death incarnate.

[NJChiefsFan]

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Oh......my......goodness.....

That was freaking hilarious. I love the casual give up. I probably would have just turned around and pretended I was trying to go up the whole time.

The woman knows they are in a pickle. I'm not sure the husband has any idea. Bigfoot could have passed him on the way up and he wouldn't have thought twice about it.

[scho63]

c5P-c7rc4bA

That took balls! :D

[prhom]

Only if the steps can be angled. If the steps are flat then eventually you would stop falling because rotational momentum would be dissipated every time you hit a step. Your rotational momentum would cease, your horizontal movement would stop, and you'd come to rest. If the steps were properly angled then gravitational acceleration could be converted into rotational momentum and horizontal movement. However, the escalator would have to be able to accelerate infinitely in order to match the constantly increasing rotational and horizontal velocity. Realistically speaking you would disintegrate into little pieces at some point because your muscles wouldn't be able to provide enough centripetal force to keep you together.

[mr. tegu]

The escalator would have to go faster than any normal one. The falling person would still progress towards the bottom on a long one. The speed of the escalator is the important factor. It has to keep the person within probably the same five steps or so position of the escalator to account for varying fall speeds, with the only variance of position on the escalator within those five steps. Anything off that and they will just progress towards the bottom or to the top.

[Baby Lee]

Yes, but could an airliner take off from one?

[BucEyedPea]

Why are y'all escalating things?

[Psyko Tek]

I bought as sliky a few years ago, never got arounfd to trying iy ouy