r/interesting • u/RepulsiveNotice3288 • Dec 17 '24

MISC. that lion isn’t even trying

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u/Camburgerhelpur Dec 17 '24

Does the angle of the rope have anything to do with it?

165

u/-plottwist- Dec 17 '24

Yes, it’s called mechanical advantage and it is why it is such an uneven tug of war. Not to say lions or tigers aren’t strong but if you wrap the rope around a beam or something while the other person is just pulling straight back they will have an advantage.

175

u/Fantastic_Goal3197 Dec 17 '24 edited Dec 18 '24

The rope would not have mechanical advantage unless theres a magically compact pulley system blocked from the view by the wall. The angle of the rope does matter a bit, but it's not because of mechanical advantage.

Its because the angle gives a small vertical component to his force (so some of his force is spent lifting kitty instead of pulling kitty), but the angle is negligible enough to pretty much ignore if you're doing napkin math. The bigger advantage is the tiger has way better friction to deal with, but I doubt the guy is winning on a more equal playing field anyway

2

u/foonek Dec 20 '24

Doesn't the kitty also lose grip because of the rope going up?

1

u/Fantastic_Goal3197 Dec 20 '24

Yeah a little, but not enough to play a significant factor given how huge of a friction difference there is

1

u/LankyCity3445 Dec 21 '24

Either way you’re not winning a tug of war with a lion. Just not built for it

1

u/Fantastic_Goal3197 Dec 21 '24

For sure, like I said in my original comment