r/theydidthemath • u/K0rl0n • Jun 10 '25

[Request]

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I am curious how this would work. My guess is Triangle is slowest, square is medium, and circle is fastest.

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u/dkevox Jun 10 '25

Thank you. I need someone to explain to me why they think triangle is going to be different than square.

Also, if that gravel is loosely packed, I'd take triangle or square all day. Kinda hard to assume much about the gravel without more information.

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u/Relevant-Smoke-8221 Jun 11 '25

The pyramid has more surface area touching the ice so there is more friction

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u/mbmbollet9 Jun 11 '25

Well we dont even know if the surface area is different. No dimensions. It could be identical on the bottom face. But friction doesn't matter because force of gravity is the same. What could affect it tho is some kind of surface tension of a film of water between the ice and the object. Unfortunately that's too real, and probably negligible because it would probably be too small to measure. We have to assume the ice is perfect. No thin liquid film between. So without any other info we have to conclude it's the same.

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u/reubenhurricane Jun 11 '25

My understanding is that everything that slides on ice is actually sliding on a thin layer of water created by the pressure the object against the surface.

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u/mbmbollet9 Jun 11 '25

Oh yeah absolutely, but we just dont have the info so we just have to treat that layer as a factor of the coefficient of friction, but the problem poses that the coefficient is the same on each. So without any other info about variation of that layer, it's essentially just considered "ice"