Why are stairs used more than slopes?

Question

Stairs are harder to walk, and higher risk of injury than slopes (imagine falling from stairs versus falling from slope).

So why aren’t slopes used more commonly in buildings?

Even stairs-shaped escalators are more common than slope-shaped escalators.

**Edit:** By “slopes”, I mean “ramps”. Pardon my English.

In: 0

Answer 1

As the others have pointed out, slopes require friction. You can STAND on horizontal ice, but you’ll immediately slide on a sloped ice-covered surface. You can climb icy stairs much more easily than you could an icy slope.

So forget about the ice (or that surfaces may be wet or covered with some sand), but still people may have shoes of varying “grip”, slipperiness, and practicality. It’s quite difficult to go up a slope wearing high heels. Or ski boots. Or sandals. Quite easy to use stairs with all of these types of footwear.