18 Comments
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Geri's avatar

Thanks, Kev, for applying this theory expertly in untangling the coils of rope in the church garage. There may be a spiritual dimension to string theory about staying flexible and open and not being too tightly coiled.

Geri's avatar

Actually meant coils of hose.

Cattle Culture's avatar

It was a good demonstration of string theory in practice.

Deltawhiskylima's avatar

My father hated whenever I went out and flew a kite. My inability to properly reel in the string and always bring home a kite and a pile of knots led him to believe I could cause any linear object to knot simply by looking at it.

Cattle Culture's avatar

Having innate tangling ability is a skill.

Jerry Shotkoski's avatar

There has to be a factor of how big of hurry a person is in also..

Cattle Culture's avatar

Most certainly the rush fator is a huge component. If you have to be somewhere the tangle factor increases exponetially!

goatsRstillgruffy's avatar

"The most egregious violation of this I often see is somebody rolling up an electrical cord between the hand and elbow." Guilty as charged, many, many times over...ooops!

Cattle Culture's avatar

The electrical cord almost always tangles no matter what you do.

goatsRstillgruffy's avatar

And I have the battle scars to prove it.

Amy's avatar

One of the things I like best about Cattle Culture is the unique and entertaining comments made by readers. They really are the best.

Cattle Culture's avatar

I agree. There are some great thinker here.

Amy's avatar

Fascinating. Who would have thunk it..... actually I remember a segment on NPR many years ago that talked about tangling objects. That episode was all 'science-y and include math. Yours is much more entertaining.

Barbara Corson's avatar

Great post!

I am old enough to remember spools of baling wire, and to know what happens when strings arent managed right: they "go haywire".

Cattle Culture's avatar

Haywire off the reel would be a real mess.

Jerry Shotkoski's avatar

I've watched countless videos on YouTube for the "correct" way to wrap an extension cord... Nope.. Still always handier cuz I'm in a hurry to wrap around the hand and elbow.. Then, fight and cuss two months or two minutes later....