Toilet Paper Physics
Entry posted by midnightpanther
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I'm starting to run low on ideas for these physics blogs and clearly I'm getting pretty desperate because I'm starting to write about pretty dumb things like toilet paper, but that's just the way its going to have to be. So here we go. When you have a new roll of toilet paper ready for use, you may do what I do, which is get out a stretch of the stuff then pull it quickly and usually the paper rips right there. However, as you use more, the roll gets smaller and occasionally when you try this trick it just ends up spinning the whole roll and you wind up holding a 5 foot long stretch of TP in your hands. This happens because of inertia. In the beginning, it is hard to get the larger roll rotating and therefore you can apply more of a force without it spinning, and the force required to get the roll really spinning is less than the force that is required to rip the toilet paper. However, once the roll gets small enough it is easier to spin the roll and therefore the force needed to spin it becomes less than the force needed to rip the paper and this is why you end up just pulling a butt ton of toilet paper out of the roll instead of ripping it.
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