Stepping On LEGO For Science

A variety of LEGO and the damage they've done to cardboard.

You might say that the worst LEGO to step on is any given piece that happens to get caught underfoot, but have you ever thought about what the worst one would really be? For us, those little caltrops come to mind most immediately, and we’d probably be satisfied with believing that was the answer. But not [Nate Scovill]. He had to quantitatively find out one way or another.

The damage done to cardboard by both broken brittle brown LEGO, and angled LEGO.And no, the research did not involve stepping on one of each of the thousands of LEGO pieces in existence. [Nate] started by building a test rig that approximated the force of his own 150 lb. frame stepping on each piece under scrutiny and seeing what it did to a cardboard substrate.

And how did [Nate] narrow down which pieces to try? He took to the proverbial streets and asked redditors and Discordians to help him come up with a list of subjects.

If you love LEGO to the point where you can’t bear to see it destroyed, then this video is not for you. But if you need to know the semi-scientific answer as badly as we did, then go for it. The best part is round two, when [Nate] makes a foot out of ballistics gel to rate the worst from the first test. So, what’s the worst LEGO to step on? The answer may surprise you.

And what’s more dangerous than plain LEGO? A LEGO Snake, we reckon.

34 thoughts on “Stepping On LEGO For Science

      1. Don’t the UK plugs include (and occasionally need) a fuse in them? That’s a massive difference with the Schuko plug (it’s not like there would be insanely massive costs to switch from one standard to another anyway…)

    1. Idk, considering that most caltrops are just a D4 with iron nails at the vertices. I have a D4 like that actually, one of those edgy stainless steel shapeways specials. Aw man I miss shapeways I made myself sad

  1. Did you know that Mr. Potato Head was originally designed to use real potatoes?

    In the version I remember, the eyes and other features had a sharp hard-plastic spike to push into the vegetable, maybe a half inch long and an eighth of an inch across. Narrow enough to pierce, thick enough to bruise.

    I still remember the feel of the pop on the bottom of my foot, quickly followed by the sound of my screaming.

  2. It is the 2×3 of course. It was never a measure of physical damage, it is the unexpected insult on one’s foot nerves, for a path that has been safely traversed, in comfort, many times, even in the dark…

  3. My kid got a set of cars that included about 7899 cones, pointy enough that 2 times they penetrated the skin, thick enough to leave a + shaped tear hole under the foot that would not close (it should probably have been stitched)
    I stepped on those bastards 100 times, but the second time it punktured the skin, they magically dissapered the next day…
    I found the bag when I moved, so naturally I gave them to my grandson…..
    Revenge is a long game….

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