SKIRMISHER

Why are manhole covers round?

This is probably not the smartest question you’ve encountered today, and it was probably already answered in the 1970s [the decade when all questions were answered. Yeah], but Effect Measure’s musings on the thought-provoking subject is “enlightening,” nevertheless.

One feature of round manhole covers is that unlike oval or square ones they cannot fall into the hole. I began to wonder what other shapes have that property and an obvious one (although not very practical for man holes) is an equilateral triangle. That raises the question of what are the characteristics of a plane figure that can’t fall into a hole it just rests on. At first I thought that the circle might be the only convex such shape but then the triangle example occurred to me. Then I wondered about five pointed stars. Here the question is whether you could get them through the hole by tipping them a bit and levering them through that way. Then the two dimensional problem becomes three dimensional.

I’m also seduced to think of other possible shapes for the manhole cover. My seatmate tells me, “Try a cutout of Pamela Anderson’s breasts.” He might be a goddamn genius, I just don’t see it now.

via EFFECT MEASURE

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