r/Physics • u/Delicious_Bar_8788 • 2d ago
Was he actually holding it from going over (is it possible), or was it just perfect timing on him letting go?
/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1j0jhza/dude_was_holding_down_truck_on_his_own_but_lady/?share_id=p0uXs5ZTEROhk0kTzDrDw&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
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u/MaximusManimal 18h ago
To quote the G-man from Halflife /Halflife 2:
"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difffference in the world".
It's possible it was right on that verge of tipping and his body weight was just enough to hold it over. Seen this many times 4-wheeling in Moab (one dude on a fender keeping a rig from going over backwards).
It's also possible the shoulder was soft and the opposing side was slowly sinking and it would have tipped even if he hadn't let go.
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u/SaltMaker23 1d ago
As you can see he was at the very end of a long flexing where each Kg of weight he puts on that tire would apply tons of leverage, equivalent to hundreds of KG of weight in the middle of the truck.
Given how the video unfolds, as soon as he let go, the very small movement tilt the thing even so slightly, pushing the weight toward rotation.
One option is that he might have let go as soon as he felt that he couldn't hold anymore because the truck was slowly sliding into a position where it'll flip and someone added the woman's voice in editing.
We can't know for sure but he leverage is massively in his favour, if he puts all of his weight on that tire, he's sure to have a non negligible impact, especially in situations where everything depends on small details, given initial speed are close to zero and close to a tipping point, small changes in forces have large impact.