
Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string (2007) - ColinWright
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2034230/
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wiz21c
I can absolutely say that all of this is _true_. Any set of cables let to stay
behind my TV set (say blue ray player, tv, audio system, raspberry and network
cables) will _spontaneously_ get entangled in a period of 2 to 3 years. I have
repeated that experiments several times with 100% predictable results for
years. It also mysteriously attracts tons of dust and not-to-be-seen again
small toys. Unbelievable.

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GW150914
I think the dust issue at least has an solid explanation, insofar as most of
our electronics have cooling which attracts a lot of dust, much of which falls
nearby. The toys... clearly a desperate attempt by either time travelers or
extradimensional entities warning us about an invasion of sentient avocados.

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bonniemuffin
I know this paper! A few years ago I gave a talk about DNA folding titled "DNA
topology: nature's headphone cord problem", in which I cited this paper.

The slides are here: [https://www.slideshare.net/bonbonsuperbonbon/dna-
topology-na...](https://www.slideshare.net/bonbonsuperbonbon/dna-topology-
natures-headphone-cord-problem)

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nemacol
The title could read "Why headphones get tangled in your pocket".

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progfix
I found out that when you fold your cables (repeatetly fold it into halves
until it is a small enough package) instead of rolling it up that they almost
never entangle. I have no idea why that is.

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oh5nxo
There's a neat way to roll cables, called Roadie Wrap. Best described in
video, but basically, you alternate the twist direction while you add each
loop to the roll. Every other time the free end goes under the forming loop.

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snarfy
If you coil a cable around something like your palm or arm, with each
revolution there is also a half twist. When unrolling the cable, it doesn't
untwist. The result after repeated coiling is a twisted up cable that doesn't
lay flat even when wound correctly. The roadie wrap technique removes the
twist.

Another technique I've found, and the one I prefer these days, is to coil the
cables in the opposite direction when I put them away from when I opened them.
If I wrapped the cable around my left arm before, when putting away I use my
right arm. This also removes the twist like the roadie wrap. The roadie wrap
removes the twist per revolution. This method removes it over the length of
the cable.

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share_and_enjoy
That was fun to see, thanks for posting! My masters project gets a mention
there and I’d never imagined anyone would have ever read it!

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dang
Please tell us more about that!

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share_and_enjoy
Hickford et al. in the orginal article. Best summary is probably the below.

[https://people.maths.bris.ac.uk/~majge/hjce.06.pdf](https://people.maths.bris.ac.uk/~majge/hjce.06.pdf)

We observed knots forming at the ends of the string (chain in this case) vs in
the middle.

I can imagine adding 'hook shapes' at the ends of the chain, like headphone
ear buds or connectors on a cable in the pocket would increase the likelihood
of knotting.

Thanks for the interest.

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glangdale
I train in martial arts, and contrary to the weird cultism about this, I wash
my belt like every other part of my uniform.

The result of spin-drying a standard martial arts belt for an hour have often
brought a smile to my face from sheer absurdity (5 half knots and a couple
exotics), even if (sadly) they are not as impressive as the ones in this
paper.

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cflyingdutchman
Reminds me of days fishing with my father.

