[‘Potato Chip’ Rock](https://imgur.com/a/A8DggB9) in San Diego, California is a popular tourist attraction that sees hundreds of people hiking out everyday to get their picture standing on it.
Normally photos like this would have me concerned about people destroying nature but it has been around for decades and for whatever reason it seems to be very strong.
What kind of rock is this and how is it so thin yet able to support hundreds of pounds of weight without breaking?
In: Geology
It’s like a folded piece of pizza – the curvature strengthens the structure in a way that resists stress. If it wasn’t as rounded it would likely have chipped off a long time ago but the unique piece of rock just happens to have the right shape that will help maintain integrity.
There’s a nice Numberphile video about curvature and pizza here, that would pertain to the shape of the rock:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi-TBlh44gY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi-TBlh44gY)
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