system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why are guillotine blades angular rather than rectangular shaped?


Guillotines chop heads. If you look at the guillotine blade, it is angled, with one side of the blade much higher than the other end. I would think the guillotine blade would be shaped more rectangular.
gpt
A straight blade such as a rectangular shape is designed for chopping, while an angled blade is designed for slicing.  The human neck is not hard to cut through, but there are pieces that are tougher than others (the spine for example).  Imagining a tomato, the skin is tougher to slice than the flesh.  Imagine taking your knife, flat against the skin and pushing down.  It would squash the tomato, not cut it.  Now imagine the same scenario, but you angle the knife in the direction of the resistance, suddenly the skin and flesh of the fruit becomes much easier to cut in one clean slice.  A guillotine is the exact same concept.  It's a slice, not a chop.