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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
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F.S. Fitzgerald to Hemingway:
"Ernest, the rich are different from us."
Hemingway:
"Yes. They have more money."
(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.