CUROSITY CORNER

Dr. Jerry D. Wilson – Emeritus Professor of Physics Lander University

(submitted to Rob’s Megaphone)

Question: Seats on airplanes have lap seatbelts, but not shoulder straps. Why is this? Wouldn’t it be safer if they did? 

Reply: Well, there is probably a combination of reasons. First, the type of restraint needed in commercial aircraft differs from that of an automobile. Shoulder straps are an advantage in sudden stops, which usually don’t occur in aircraft. Also, on an airliner you don’t have the windshield there to contend with. (With the small leg space, the back of the seat in front would act as a bumper if you didn’t have your lap belt on. They don’t give you much space, particularly when passengers in front of you recline their seats.) Another consideration is where shoulder straps would be anchored. With two, three and even five seats across an aisle (in the big ones), there would be a jungle of straps going somewhere above. (You wouldn’t be able to see the in-flight movie.)

          Of course, with airline profits the way they are, there is a cost factor. Not only for the shoulder straps themselves and their installation, but also in excess weight. A shoulder strap may not sound like much, but consider a whole plane times the number of planes that fly, and you get a big bunch that would cost big bucks in fuel over time.

          Evidently, there is no great need for shoulder straps, or we would probably have them. One way to get around the need would be to have the seats face backwards. Then, no problem with sudden stops, and we could watch all the people waiting to get into the restrooms. Maybe a good safety idea, but it probably wouldn’t fly. A lot of people, including myself, don’t like to ride backwards.

Well, that was a relatively short one, so I’ll add a Biblical observation we were discussing the other day. It seems that 40 is a very popular number in the Bible. For example (I hope I get all this right, otherwise I’m in trouble again), it rained for 40 days and 40 nights for the big flood, and Moses went up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights. Elijah spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, but the Israelites spent 40 years. Jonah gave Nineveh 40 days to repent. Jesus sojourned in the wilderness for 40 days, and Lent is 40 days long.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript):  Do not worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older it will avoid you.  ~Joey Adams

Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, College of Science and Mathematics, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, 29649