Hills... Of... Doom!

In one of my intro physics classes, I learned that "there's no such thing as a sucking force." However, around the same time, I also learned that gravity is a myth, the earth just sucks. I tend to believe the latter theory. Regardless if which is true, though, one thing is certain--things generally prefer to go downhill.

I however, think that most things are silly. Sure, it's much easier to go downhill. Fall, and then you get to roll all the way to the bottom. However, getting there in one piece is much, much more difficult. Given the choice of walking uphill or downhill, I'd say that it's much nicer to go uphill. Walking uphill, you have to work against the full effect of gravity, overcoming it so you end up with no downward acceleration.

Walking downhill, however, you still have to work against gravity. But you also have to work with it, to the point that gravity pulls you downhill just as fast as you're wanting to go. Yes, this does mean that you have to apply less of an uphill force. However, you still have to apply the uphill force, while walking downhill. In essence, to walk downhill, one has to apply a backward force, while still moving forward.

Unless, of course, you're wanting to get downhill really, really fast. Which is painful, and often not the preferred solution.

As such, I continue to find the people that complain about walking uphill amusing. I'd much rather walk uphill through the snow both ways than get horribly bruised falling flat on my face and rolling to my doom.