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
92 교양 What the Social Progress Index can reveal about your country MoA 2014.11.30 337
91 IT 윈도우 8.1 스토어가 동작하지 않는 경우 해결 MoA 2015.04.22 310
90 IT Image to base64 MoA 2015.04.23 387
89 IT 윈도우 10 클린 인스톨하는 방법 MoA 2015.07.30 355
88 IT 우분투 파티션 리사이즈 하는 방법 MoA 2015.08.02 520
87 과학 아폴로 11호 비행계획표.jpg file MoA 2015.08.05 348
86 시사 국정원 역대급 실수 Top 4 file MoA 2015.08.05 374
85 교양 전세계 맥주 점유율.jpg file MoA 2015.08.05 394
84 교양 이케아 IKEA 인기 이유중에 하나... file MoA 2015.08.05 459
83 과학 나사에서 공개한 4.3기가 사진.jpg MoA 2015.08.06 719
82 IT 구글 포토 사진 날짜 변경 방법 MoA 2015.08.07 1673
81 IT 저작권이 프리한 이모티콘 다운 받는 사이트 MoA 2015.08.23 488
80 IT 해킹팀 관련 기사 MoA 2015.09.16 437
79 IT 영문 사이트 번역률 높이는 방법 MoA 2015.09.19 472
78 IT 미국 시골의 인터넷 가입 옵션.jpg file MoA 2015.09.19 460
77 교양 오늘도 까이는 국산맥주.jpg file MoA 2015.09.19 445
76 IT 페이스북은 어떻게 개발하고 배포할까? MoA 2015.09.25 412
75 교양 Crime Comparison Between Two Countries file MoA 2015.10.04 475
74 과학 50 Years of Mars Exploration file MoA 2015.10.15 456
73 과학 목성의 탱킹 능력.gif file OBG 2015.11.26 465
Board Pagination Prev 1 ... 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
/ 19
위로