Which wires get tangled more than others?
In their study, which was awarded the Shnobel Prize, the scientists conducted an experiment - they repeatedly threw pieces of rope of different lengths into a box and after a few seconds ghana phone number library took them out. In total, the authors conducted more than three thousand tests. As a result, they were able to find that in about half of the cases, the rope was pulled out of the box with a knot.
The researchers found that the probability of a rope becoming entangled depended on its length. Pieces of rope less than 46 centimeters long almost never became entangled. But beyond this length, the probability of entanglement increased dramatically. Therefore, the researchers concluded that a length of 46 centimeters is the minimum for a rope to become entangled (to wrap around itself at least once inside the box).
How wires get tangled
The experiment in question was conducted on ropes, but it is conceivable that wires behave similarly. As the authors of the paper report, after twisting a rope, its end can move randomly above or below an adjacent section. This leads to a wide range of different entangled configurations.
As the rope is woven, knots are formed. Moreover, simple knots can form complex ones. Because unraveling itself is extremely unlikely both from an energetic point of view (a certain amount of energy is required for unraveling) and from a statistical point of view, the overall picture moves towards entanglement of great complexity. Simply put, there is a high probability of the appearance of complex knots on the rope.
As the length of the string increases, more twists occur. This means that the longer the rope, the higher the probability of complex knots. On average, the rope forms a knot with seven intersections. In some cases, knots containing up to eleven intersections appeared during the experiment. Accordingly, untangling such knots is much more difficult. The authors of the study reported this in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science .
