메뉴 건너뛰기

OBG

정보게시판

과학
2010.05.15 22:39

Why do wires get tangled up?

조회 수 330 추천 수 0 댓글 0
?

단축키

Prev이전 문서

Next다음 문서

크게 작게 위로 아래로 댓글로 가기 인쇄
?

단축키

Prev이전 문서

Next다음 문서

크게 작게 위로 아래로 댓글로 가기 인쇄

 

 

his post is a tribute to this site – It certainly made me google (bing u would say?) up on a question that always confronted me everyday.

Why do wires get tangled up?

It happens with my earphones, my mouse cable, my laptop cable, my mobile charger cable – any cable or wire I use. I’ll sort it carefully and keep it in its place, and few hours later, voila! It’ll be in a complete mess with multiple knots and it’ll take me atleast a few minutes to clear it up.

Results of googling:

a) Best Result

The reason stuff like this happens has to do with entropy and statistics.  It comes down to this: whenever you have a system with many possible states, all of roughly equivalent energies, and then you allow energy input to “scramble” the system, then you will see this effect.
Basically, the idea is that there are MANY more unordered ways the system (eg, bunch of wires) can be arranged than there are ordered ways.  So, if you input energy (jumble them around) the odds are overwhelming that the output will be one of the disorder states.
Take an example.  Fill a jar half full of green jelly beans.  Then put a nice flat layer of red jelly beans carefully on top.  Close the lid.  Now lay the jar on it’s side and roll it down stairs.  You are inputting energy to the system to scramble it.  Even though it COULD happen that the beans end up still in a nice colorful layer, the odds are that you will have a jar full of mixed red and green jelly beans.
Now think about your cable wires.  In your pocket, as you walk around, sit, stand etc, you are putting energy into the system to mix it up.  As soon as the wires move around even a little, it’s very unlikely that they will ever just happen to go back.  The longer they stay in your pocket, the more mixed up they get.

The reason stuff like this happens has to do with entropy and statistics.  It comes down to this: whenever you have a system with many possible states, all of roughly equivalent energies, and then you allow energy input to “scramble” the system, then you will see this effect.

Basically, the idea is that there are MANY more unordered ways the system (eg, bunch of wires) can be arranged than there are ordered ways.  So, if you input energy (jumble them around) the odds are overwhelming that the output will be one of the disorder states.

Take an example.  Fill a jar half full of green jelly beans.  Then put a nice flat layer of red jelly beans carefully on top.  Close the lid.  Now lay the jar on it’s side and roll it down stairs.  You are inputting energy to the system to scramble it.  Even though it COULD happen that the beans end up still in a nice colorful layer, the odds are that you will have a jar full of mixed red and green jelly beans.

Now think about your cable wires.  In your pocket, as you walk around, sit, stand etc, you are putting energy into the system to mix it up.  As soon as the wires move around even a little, it’s very unlikely that they will ever just happen to go back.  The longer they stay in your pocket, the more mixed up they get.

b) Most Innovative Result (lol! :D )

There is a conspiracy when you turn your back little gnomes appear and tangle them up into teeny tiny knots while they steal your socks and hide your car keys

c) Alternate Theories (hmm…)

  1. I say it’s due to a small group of creature’s called the tangle pixies who get a kick out of it, much like the gnomes who steal underpants.
  2. It’s because of something similar to the Tooth Fairy. It’s the Wire Tangling Fairy, and it doesn’t give you money.
  3. And you thought Lord of the Rings was a fictional movie! Huh! :P

     

    http://ninjatalli.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/why-do-wires-get-tangled-up/

?

List of Articles
번호 분류 제목 글쓴이 날짜 조회 수
192 투자 빅쇼트 해설 OBG 2023.11.29 110
191 IT 비회원 글쓰기 시 스팸 방지 MoA 2013.09.26 50348
190 투자 비잔티움 장군 문제를 블록체인에 대입해보자 OBG 2024.01.11 101
189 IT 브라우저별 HTML 5 Test 비지 2011.05.02 491
188 투자 부채, 채무 OBG 2021.08.15 59
187 투자 부동산 PF 근황 OBG 2023.10.31 112
186 투자 부담부증여 secret OBG 2022.06.14 0
185 IT 부기보드 Naya 2011.10.05 281
184 IT 봇을 이용한 악성 파워블로그를 잡아내기 위한 사이트 Naya 2012.07.14 270
183 투자 보험회사 재무분석 - 보험연구원 OBG 2021.08.14 79
182 IT 보안 서버 무료 인증서 by StartSSL MoA 2013.08.09 255
181 IT 베가스 강좌 모아레 2008.07.17 417
180 투자 배당 줄이고 자사주 소각 금지하라고? 1 OBG 2021.11.01 56
179 교양 밥, 냉장 보관하면 칼로리 50~60칼로리 감소 MoA 2015.12.12 457
178 시사 박근혜 돌발영상(?) Naya 2011.12.09 374
177 IT 미러리스(하이브리드)카메라 신제품 라인업 너울 2011.11.18 406
176 교양 미국여행 전 필요한 것들 모아레 2010.03.19 284
175 투자 미국국채근황 (feat. SVB 파이낸셜 사태) OBG 2023.03.11 103
174 IT 미국 시골의 인터넷 가입 옵션.jpg file MoA 2015.09.19 460
173 교양 미 원 vs 다시다 Naya 2011.11.19 512
Board Pagination Prev 1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ... 19 Next
/ 19
위로