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Asked by 782yttc52 to Anna, Hayley, Iain, Rebecca on 15 Jun 2015.
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Anna Kutner answered on 15 Jun 2015:
Oh I love this question. It was actually one which I had to solve during a quirky “Science in Science Fiction” module at the Vienna University of Technology. After a lot of debate, solving mathematical equations and using big words (like torque, coefficient of friction, surface roughness, rotational velocity and gravity) we came to a conclusion that it all depends on how you drop it. The key questions would be:
1). what is the initial position of the slice of bread (are you holding it or is it resting on the edge of a table)?
2). what is the size of bread?
3). from what height are you dropping it (how many times will it manage to rotate before hitting the ground).
Here is a cool website explaining this and other physics experiments: http://www.physics.org/facts/toast-toast.asp
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Iain Bethune answered on 15 Jun 2015:
I think the most important part of this is not the Physics, but about Psychology. If you butter 1000 pieces of toast and throw them randomly, then about half will land butter side down.
If you drop your own slide of toast on the floor, you’ll only remember the times that it landed butter side down, not the other 50% of the time. Actually in my house, the dog will catch and eat it before it hits the floor in either case, but that’s another story…
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anon answered on 15 Jun 2015:
That’s a great website, Anna! And I like Iain’s explanation, too (which is probably quite true). I only seem to remember the times that my toast landed butter side down 😉
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