Question

why would a ladder be useful if you had to rescue someone from an icy pond

Answer 1

A ladder would be useful while rescuing someone from an icy pond because of the following reasons-

• it increases the surface pressure by distributing the weight applied by the person over a larger area.
• it also provides the person to hold something while coming out of the pond. As the icy pond wont have anything with enough friction to hold on to, it usually makes the situation more difficult.
• The ladder also keeps the person rescuing another person, distant from the hole of the pond. This avoids the situation in which the person might also fall in the same situation.