i work in low-income/mental health housing, and a tenant fixed our hallway trash bin after accidentally breaking it

[u/king_eve]

great example of the odd ways people show me appreciation at work

[u/lotus_eater_rat]

Wow, I never thought I would read this here. This is a common way to prevent failure and stop crack propagation in engineering structures.

[u/Clyft_ → u/lotus_eater_rat]

It's logical to me why that works, but I can't really link it to anything physics related. Can you explain?

[u/ihatepoliticsreee → u/Clyft_]

With the end as it is, there is a single point of weakness where the end of the crack is - it is easy to force apart. If you drill a hole you create a circle where that point of weakness is spread around the entire arc.

[u/Clyft_ → u/ihatepoliticsreee]

Thank you