How to Keep a Trolley Case From Tipping Over When It Wobbles
Getting on a connecting flight means in most cases running to save your life (or at least the exit), dodging slow families and golf carts full of luggage. But if you find your own suitcase spinning and spinning behind you as you run through Los Angeles, slowing down to allow it to stabilize is the wrong answer. You might consider moving a little faster.
This is what was found in a recent study by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, when scientists examined the vibrations that typically occur when towing something like a two-wheeled suitcase or trolley, vibrations that create instability and ultimately tip the suitcase.
To simulate the swaying of a suitcase when pulled, the researchers built a simplified toy model of a suitcase being pulled across a flat surface. The scales on either side of the model suitcase were moved, forcing the suitcase out of balance and providing researchers with an example of both translational and rotational forces involved in its rocking vibrations.
They found that the two-wheeled suitcase would wobble until it flips over or finds a steady cycle of oscillation. The higher the speed of the suitcase, the more likely it is to tip over. Kicker comes to the conclusion of the report, where researchers find that increasing your speed when the suitcase is unstable actually stabilizes the luggage that runs after you.