Dominoes Fall Faster with Less Friction

By: Jayden Dudek

Experiment results show that slick dominoes on rough surface fall the fastest.

David Cantor, a researcher of Polytechnique Montréal in Quebec, Canada, and Kajetan Wojtacki, a physicist from the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research in Warsaw, Poland conducted research together on the physics of dominoes. The pair published their findings in June Physical Review Applied

Cantor and Wojtacki built computer models to simulate the collision. They found that the friction which reduces the speed in which dominoes fall happens in two places: collisions and surface area.

The research show how best to get a speedy fall of dominos, that is, to use slick dominoes and place them on a rough surface, because both slick dominoes and rough surface help to reduce the friction.

Links:

https://www.snexplores.org/article/falling-dominoes-speed-friction-physics