Christmas: Science Picture Challenge #1 - Why Stepping On Lego Hurts So Much?

travelgirl (77)in #sciencepic • 7 years ago (edited)

Hi Steemians,

Today I would like to participate in the competition held by @mcw with a Christmas theme incorporated with science. I’m not really a science person but this competition actually got me thinking for awhile.

First up let me share with you all my photo. This photo was taken at Legoland at Nagoya in Japan.

We have heaps of lego at home and Baby E told me he wanted to build the exact Christmas Tree when we get home. I thought it was a great idea as I love lego too (Remember I made the large Disney Castle a few months back?). Lego is a quality toy and their plastic blocks are flawless. Then it got me thinking for this contest, and also the number 1 question most parents would ask is why does stepping on Lego feels like the worst thing on this planet. Like literally! How can these little plastic blocks make parents so miserable?

There is a new saying I’ve just come across when you want someone to suffer:

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After some quick research here are some of the conclusions science gurus have found:

why they don’t break - Lego are extremely hard and sharp. You can put 950 pounds or another stack of 375,000 lego blocks together on top before it would crack. Which leads to the next question:

why does it feel like the worst pain ever when you step on one? it is because the sole of our feet is highly sensitive with many nerve endings therefore our soles feel it the most. So if you step on the corner or edges of the lego, the force and gravity of your weight going onto these bricks plus the small concentrated area of your foot will feel the most pain.

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So there you go.

To all the parents with kids and a room full of lego, is this something you agree on?