Modeling a Falling Rope Ladder That Falls Faster Than Free Fall.

Rhett Allain
7 min readFeb 8
Photo: Rhett Allain. Free Body Diagrams

I saw this YouTube short on Vertiasium’s channel. It shows two falling rope ladders. The one on the left hits a table while the one on the right never hits anything. Which one ends up falling faster? The one that hits the table (SPOILER ALERT).

Rhett Allain

Physics faculty, science blogger of all things geek. Technical Consultant for CBS MacGyver and MythBusters. WIRED blogger.