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Noah930 Noah930 is online now
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Join Date: May 2005
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Posts: 17,506
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Escalator Question

Why does the rubber handrest portion of an escalator always travel just a wee bit faster than the treads on which you stand?

I can understand that the rubber handrest has to travel a further distance than the metal treads (circumscribes a larger arc) so that it's not easy to perfectly match their two relative speeds. But if it was truly random that the handrest and treads travel at independent speeds and can't be match perfectly, then it should be about 50:50 whether the handrest was faster or slower. Yet it seems that the handrest is always just a bit faster. How come?
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1987 Venetian Blue (looks like grey) 930 Coupe
1990 Black 964 C2 Targa
Old 10-04-2013, 02:05 PM
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