The Penrose Staircase

By:-
A. Jayarama Krishna
Idea of the Staircase

• This Penrose staircase is a 2D drawing,

which consists of 4-sets of staircase,
that makes 4 - 90° turns.
• They ascend or descend
continuously to form a loop, which
is not possible practically.
 Relation between our inertia and
gravity
• Inertia is the property of a matter by which the
body continues in its existing state(uniform
motion or at rest), unless and until an external
force acts on it…
• Let’s take an example:- Let us consider a man
standing on a floor(Blue) normally, where there
are no external forces acting on him…
• In this case (refer the figure), the man is only
under the force of Gravity (whose direction is
represented by yellow arrow, i.e., acting
downwards).
• The Inertia of the man(represented by the black
arrow) is also along with the force of gravity,
which pulls him downward.
 How do we climb a staircase?
• Let us consider a man climbing a staircase…
• When he puts his leg forward to climb the stair, he
transfers all his inertia to that leg, which is acting
downwards(The Black Arrow).
• In order to go up, the man puts a force, just
opposite to the direction of his inertia(The Red
Arrow).
• From this, we get to know that we need to put the
force by our leg, in such a way that the force is just
acting opposite(180°) to the direction of our
Inertia.
Illustration-1
• Consider the two black
rectangles as the lower
floor and the upper floor.
• Here, the gravity acts
downwards, as usual.
• The man climbs up from
the lower floor to the
upper floor by exerting
the force opposite to
gravity (as seen before).
Illustration-2
• This is the same as
the previous figure,
but here, the stairs
are tilted.
• The Brown arrow
shows the direction of
gravity.
• But, if the man has to
reach the top floor, he
will have to climb the
tilted stairs by giving a
force, just opposite to
the black arrow.
Illustration-3
• Here, the staircase is
tilted in such a way that
the start and the end is
on the same floor.
• This staircase only
becomes true, when the
direction of the gravity
acts along the black
arrow (for the tilted
part) and along brown
arrow (for the upper
floor).
How does a Penrose staircase
look when viewed in 3D?

• We all know that Penrose stairs just

works(the loop), when it is viewed in
2D form.
• But, when it is viewed in 3D, the loop
dis-continues, and the illusion
disappears.
Is it possible to make the
Penrose staircase work in 3D?
• Yes. It is possible.
• As we just tilt the staircase,(like
the one depicted before), it forms
a loop, as the person walks on and
on.
• The thing to be noted here is the
direction of gravity,(which has to
be different on the stairs, as shown
in .fig), that gives life to the
Penrose.
• But is it possible to have two
different gravities?
 Whose direction has to be changed:-
Gravity or Inertia?
• We all know that Gravity is unidirectional, i.e., the same direction on
all points of the earth.
• From this, it is very obvious that the gravity cannot be changed.
• Thus, we will have to change the Inertia of the man, which goes
towards the black arrow(refer previous .fig).
 Can the Inertia of a man be changed?
• Yes, it can be changed only for a limited time…
• For example:- When you get down out of a running bus, you must
have experienced that you tend to go in the forward/backward
direction, in which the bus was moving before you get down.
• Or take another example:- If you would have experienced a walk in
the spinning tunnel, you will be feeling the vertigo (imbalance of
Inertia), after you come out of the tunnel, which is due to the visual
effects.
• Thus, Inertia can also be changed visually, but only for a certain
period of time.
 The Final working
model!
• So, for the Penrose to be real, we will
have to change our moment of
Inertia.
• This can be done with the help of a
spinning tunnel.
• The spinning tunnel works in such a
way that once when the person goes
in and comes out of it, the person’s
Inertia will be in the direction of the
Black arrows(to feel the Penrose), due
to the lighting effects of the tunnel.
!THANK YOU!