what is it with escalators ??

[emef]

the handrail always travels just slightly faster than the stair part.
doesnt matter if the escalator is going up or down or even just along, the handrail is always just slightly faster than the track.
never slower or the same speed... WHY!!!
i realize this makes me horribly boring but it drives me mad.

[gunjack]

l o l

[pille'ocheoni]

i saw a little girl get her pant leg caught in a escalator once, it was terrible. nothing harmful happened to her, but she did lose a little bit of her pant's leg. there dangerous things these escalators.

[piscaries]

i've noticed that too emef... don't worry, you're not the only one it drives mad. we really need to get working on that whole teleporter technology stuff. but then we'll complain "my leg matter feels like it's transporting faster than my arm matter" and we'll just be back where we started.

[emef]

haha:)

[moorekk]

the problem is quite simple. the best example to solve the riddle are two, different diameters, wheels, one inside another (with joint axis). the angel veolicty of the wheels is the same, it's all about the distance each wheel can make. the bigger wheel can make longer distance in the same time as the smaller one. so the angle velocity is the same, but the distance velocity changes.
a simple solution to world wide problem.
that calmed you down emef?

[piscaries]

but if they're both supposed to be moving at the same RPM, shouldn't they sync up? ah.. this is a question i think is better left unsolved... one of life's little mysteries

[JE:5]

Has anyone ever had an static electric shock off an escalator? I never hold on to the handrail now...

[piscaries]

i get a static shock every time i touch something metal. i haven't figured out why this is, but there's a list of things i have in my mind where i know that if i touch them, i get shocked... so i touch them with the back of my hand first because it hurts less and it discharges the static charge.

"don't touch me
'cause i'm electric
and if you touch me
you get shocked shocked shocked"

[zongkong]

A friend of mine asked the service people about this, and the answer he got was that it's kind of a security measure; if the handrail travels faster, it also ensures that you won't fall backwards (when riding up)..

A couple of years ago, a friend and his friend were on their way home from a party; they were tripping that night. When they've walked to the subway station, they both start to hear this incredible beat, so they start diggin' it, like dancing.. only suddenly it fades, and it's gone!
Turned out they had been listening to the escalator while riding it.. :D

piscaries - doesn't that mean you break electronic stuff every once in a while? ^_^

[piscaries]

hehe... i've learned to ground myself before i do any serious work... and as far as touching cases of synths and whatnot, usually the ground wire is connected to the case to avoid things like that.

man i'm a freak.

[moorekk]

just wait and you'll attract metal things, like irons or kitchen sink. magnet-man :)

[piscaries]

hehe.. i'm the REAL magneto... maybe i just have a lot of iron in my blood?

[aleks]

i try not to touch handrails, not because of electro shocks but i am kinda paranoid about bacteria and stuff. i generally try not to touch stuff in subways etc.

[marcel]

how do you get out of public toilets then?

[piscaries]

that's where the teleporter comes in...

[marcel]

hahaha