Fleur wanted to make a set of stairs. She got frustrated with gravity. So I convinced her to let me help. And made a bracing column.
She is happy with it.
Tag: gravity
One of the considerations for letting Fleur go slide is the pants she wears. Something I didn’t know before being a parent was different pants have different coefficients of friction.
The force required to move two sliding surfaces over each other, divided by the force holding them together. It is reduced once the motion has started.
theFREEdictionary
And drag.
Every time I let her go with the slicker pants, I chide myself for not having made the better physics choice. She flies down the slide.
It is one of those designs with a bump in the middle. She can go so fast she gets enough air to land just before careening off the end.
With pants providing enough friction, she doesn’t get too much speed. And I don’t feel the need to be too vigilant.
Polymath Parent 