It is a problem that happens very frequently: we sat on a terrace, in a bar or restaurant and The limp table. We put documents, caps … but our drinks are still at risk of paying.
This problem is so exasperating that science also had to intervene to try to solve it. André Martin It is a French particle physique that has worked in the CERNThe European Laboratory of particles in Geneva, Switzerland, in the early 2000s.
Like the Daily emailhe felt pushed to study the problem because he was tired unstable laboratory tables, which has always led to a cup of poured coffee.
In an article published in the magazine Nature entitled How to keep the four feet on the floor, Philip BallEditor of the magazine, he wrote: “Still and again, Martin was turning the table to look for a stable position”.
Its solution is simple: you just have to turn the table. According to mathematics, if you have a square table with your legs in the corners and is supported on an irregular ground, There will always be a way to make the four legs touch.
Imagine having a table where all the legs (A, B, C and D) They have the same lengthBut the leg D is in the air due to an irregular floor.
If you turn the table, keeping your legs A, B and C on the floor at any time, when the table has made 90 degrees, LA pata d technically will be lower than the soil level.
Therefore, in an intermediate point of the shift, The base of the leg D must touch the groundwhich shows that you can always find a stable position. However, it is possible that the surface of the table is no longer leveled.
This method applies if the problem comes from the irregular soil, but mathematicians don’t know how to solve a problem with a stunning table if it falters Because one of his legs is irregular. There you will surely have to resort to the positioning of an object below.
