Monday, October 31, 2016

Stepping Up

This is a ladder leading to an elevated playhouse for kids visiting Brookside Gardens in Maryland. The ladder reveals a frequency distribution of foot placement wear. On most steps we see more wear in the middle of the ladder rung and less wear towards the left and right edges. This leaves a bell-shaped pattern of use.

But a rung near the bottom has a bi-modal pattern, showing the wear resulting from both left and right feet. This doesn't persist on higher rungs. There the wear seems more central. So why not on the lower rung as well? Perhaps central steps on higher rungs feel safer. A care that is not that needed closer to the ground.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The kids play on the lower rungs.