SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
You put on your shoes, tie them as firmly as possible, but soon after the laces come undone.
Now scientists think they know what causes one of life's knotty problems.
[...] The researchers say an understanding of shoelaces can be applied to other structures, such as DNA.
[...] They found that when running, your foot strikes the ground at seven times the force of gravity.
Responding to that force, the knot stretches and then relaxes.
As the knot loosens, the swinging leg applies an inertial force on the free ends of the laces, leading to rapid unravelling in as little as two strides.
related stories:
Untangling the Mechanics of Knots
Useful Dead Technologies Redux
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
My NOSE is NUMB!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 13 2017, @01:35PM (14 children)
No, it takes a couple more words than that. Tie them bow-around-a-bow. That is, double knot them. Of course, those of you who never learned how to tie a bow certainly won't know how to make double bows.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Thursday April 13 2017, @01:48PM (9 children)
I double-bow.
I also never untie the laces when I take shoes off or put them on.
Same shoes, same knot, thousands of times a year.
People who don't double-bow are just wasting their time.
And, no, not untying the shoes doesn't break them any more than just wearing them.
I replace shoes almost exclusively because the soles go, not because of anything related to them being tied when I put them on (e.g. laces, splitting sides, rear-of-heel, etc.)
(It's not even that I don't like tying laces - I just find it a waste to constantly tie and untie them every single time I want to take them off. Velcro is not a bad idea but looks silly on nice shoes. Why all shoes aren't just tight and slip-on in the first place, I can't fathom, lots of nice shoes are like that).
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Thursday April 13 2017, @01:56PM
It depends on how high the ankle support is. You can fairly easily slip low shoes on and off if you tie them a little loosely, but higher topped shoes and boots are pretty much out of the question.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @01:59PM
I do that with certain shoes depending on the style.
I like my shoes to fit snugly, especially sneakers, so I've found that necessitates tying and untying with most styles.
Velcro doesn't stay snug as well as a firmly tied knot.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday April 13 2017, @02:05PM (5 children)
People who don't double-bow are just wasting their time.
Are you sure you're tying the "single-bow" correctly?
It's surprising, but a large percentage of people tie their shoes the "wrong way." Yes, there is a significantly more and less effective way of creating the standard "bow" knot, which just depends on which way you go around the loop. It's sort of similar to the difference between a "square knot" vs. a "granny knot": one will remain relatively tight under stress, while looping the other way will lead to the knot slipping over time.
See video and discussion here [gentlemansgazette.com] for example. Or this very short TED talk [ted.com].
Seriously. For all of you who have never heard of this, check and make sure you're tying the knot correctly. I discovered this a few years back, and once I switched looping directions, my knots almost never come undone, even without double-knotting.
(Score: 3, Informative) by draconx on Thursday April 13 2017, @02:35PM (1 child)
My shoes came with round laces, which I found would tend to work itself loose even when the regular shoelace knot is tied correctly.
I now normally tie Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot [fieggen.com]: which is almost as easy to tie, and has never come undone, except when I want it to (in which case it comes undone easily).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @03:33PM
Just tried it. That's handy!
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday April 13 2017, @07:53PM
I tie double reef bows and, sometimes, out of sheer exasperation, triple reef bows, yet they still seem to come undone much more often than I would like! I wonder if it's slipperiness of the modern lace material that's partly to blame.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:02PM (1 child)
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:04PM
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday April 13 2017, @03:08PM
Ditto. Just started the "leave them tied" thing in the last year or so, out of laziness really.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @06:08PM (2 children)
Of course, those of you who never learned how to tie a bow certainly won't know how to make double bows.
You pick the most bizarre things to assert your superiority over.
Its almost like you have no real accomplishments of your own so you end up bragging about the most basic functions of life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @06:47PM
course, those of you who never learned how to tie a bow certainly won't know how to make double bows.
You pick the most bizarre things to assert your superiority over.
Its almost like you have no real accomplishments of your own so you end up bragging about the most basic functions of life.
Ah, but the Runaway is also quite the authority on shitting, both *bull* and *regular*, so there is that.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 14 2017, @01:58AM
For a simple mind, I'll point out one of life's most simple facts. Life keeps changing. You use the word "bizarre". For all of recorded history, people have been tying various kinds of knots into things, for various purposes. The least technological cultures we know of, have figured out how to make string and rope, and they've used it extensively. Today, life has changed so much, that many of you younger people have NOT learned to tie knots. You simply don't use string or rope.
Knot tying is something of an art. Some of us have spent a lot of time learning macrame, some for artistic reasons, some for daily use on the job. A bad knot might even cost a person their life - think mountain climbing.
I merely observed that some of you do NOT learn knot tying, any more. If you are feeling inferior for having not learned a skill which may be important to you some day - that's cool. But, don't project your inferiority on me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:02AM
I purchased a book called The Klutz Book of Knots, which contained their own strings for practice. Inside there was a knot called something like "the better shoelace knot", or something to that effect, but the only difference was that you did two loops around your thumb. I have used that knot for years, and very rarely have to re-lace my shoes. Can't really recall the last time that knot failed. You just have to be careful to pull the ends slowly when releasing the knot, in case it starts to make a square knot.