The Ladder Problem

Rhett Allain
6 min readDec 11, 2018

I like to solve physics problems. Here is one for you (I just made it up).

A 4 meter ladder leans against a frictionless wall at a 30 degree angle. The mass of the ladder is 10 kg. A human stands 1 meter up the ladder and has a mass of 70 kg. What is the minimum coefficient of static friction between the floor and the ladder so that the ladder doesn’t slip?

Here is the solution-in video form.

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Rhett Allain

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