why can you stick different parts of your body(head, hand, finger) in small gaps really easily but you can’t take them back out?
In: Physics
It’s most likely the skin thing everyone is talking about, but I also like to think it, in part also has to do with how the body is shaped.
In art, a common shape we see a lot and are tought to draw from is triangles, and that’s because our bodies like to come to a point!
Your hand comes to a point at the fingertips. Your face comes to a point at the nose (and the sides of your face tend to be flatter). The top of your head comes to a point from your shoulders.
If we’ve learned anything from moving objects around, it’s always easier to get an object from one spot to another, slimmer side first (as you’re able to get more of it in and then alter said angle to fit the rest through). It is far more difficult to get objects through fatter end first.
For example, you push your face between two bars of a stairwell. You struggle to get your head out. This is because the front of your face is the slimmest, the sides of your face tend to be the flattest (as well as force and skin making it a whole lot easier). The back of your head is round and isn’t flat like the rest of your face. It will struggle to get out back end first.
Your fingers form a point, you are able to push your hand through a whole and change their position to allow the rest of your hand inside. You struggle to get your hand out because it’s base is wider than the fingertips.
You can get through a hole head first, and shift yourself and arms around easily to fit your shoulders through. You’ll struggle to get back out because you tend to be wider at the shoulders than your head and therefore won’t be able to fit enough of yourself out to aid yourself more easily.
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