Structural Failure

I found a hefty yellow tape measure sitting beside a toolbox on the living room rug. Naturally, I had to find out how much disrespect physics could handle before giving up. I hauled the casing onto the wooden coffee table, thumbed the black lock lever down, and slowly fed the curved steel blade out into empty air toward the armchair. Two feet held steady. Three feet started to sag like a depressed diving board. At four feet, gravity finally took offense—the entire ribbon snapped with a sharp metallic clack and dangled limply against the floor. Truly a spectacular collapse. I popped the lock to let it hiss back inside, ready to see if five feet is possible.