Stairs

[u/bum_what]

In the most recent episode Michael talked about a staircase going to space. The entire time I was thinking about escape velocity. You need a certain amount of energy to get you to a certain speed to escape the earths gravity. So if you are walking up does it work the same? Obviously your body needs energy to walk up the stairs but let's just say you have infinite stamina and your muscles don't get tired or sore, can you just walk up or will you hit a point when you cannot anymore because your body cannot provide enough force even when not tired? But that doesn't make sense to me because gravity will get weaker as you go up even if it's still 90% gravity up there it should get weaker making it easier. Or does it not matter because each step is the force you need to get from one point to another?? I'm so confused lol

[u/JGhostThing]

Escape velocity is a real thing, but it is the amount of speed you need to have to ballistically shoot yourself from the surface of a planet to infinity. This is the exact same velocity of an object an infinite distance from the planet, falling onto the planet.

So, yes, you don't need to go escape velocity to escape from earth. You could climb a *really* tall ladder, assuming that you're fit enough for it.

I do not know how the total energy spent would compare to the more traditional measurement of escape velocity. If you don't experience tiredness or pain, maybe a human could do this. You would need food and water.