Rope tangle theory?

[R1Geezer]

Has anyone heard of any theory that explains the invisible force that tangles ropes and cable when you are not looking? I mean you coil up a cable and put it in the cupboard, when you next need it, it has tied itself in knots. Will the LHC be able to discover the vector boson for this innexplicable force, the hitherto undected, Geezer-knot Boson?

[bookbinder]

It's called Sod's Law, which is explained as "what can go wrong, will go wrong."

[heathfield]

My observations over many years have convinced me that, ''Perversity tends to exist throughout the known Universe''. But that's the Universe for you...Busy, busy, busy.

[grasscarp]

I put a pair of headphones, a camera with a carrying handle and the piece of cable that connects the camera to the computer in my draw at work. When I went to take out the headphones today they had become hopelessly entwined with the camera and the camera cable. Never thought about this before but it does raise the question as to how they can thread through each other like this!

[jake-the-peg]

Sounds awfully like the second law of thermodynamics to me.

Roughly translated as "The Universe continues towards a state of increasing disorder

[Clanad]

Or a tangenital theory to explain why two wire coathangars left in a darkened closet will, very quickly, reproduce and soon populate the entire closet...

[mibn2cweus]

Ooo . . . I wonder if a unification of rope tangle and tangenital theory might explain what happened to poor Grasshoppah?

[Naomicorlett]

And don't forget " The inate hostility of inanimate objects"

[fo3nix]

http://www.newscienti...dphones-in-twist.html

I can remember an article about knots and tangling; I can't find it though.

It went through the mathematics of how it happens, using some knot theory and other stuff.

The above link has some decent suggestions though.

[tony1941]

Ask anyone who sails about "Rope Tangle Theory"! They will probably dismiss it as a nice waste of time. In practice a tangle is exactly NOT what you want. See the link for some examples. Note that an unattached coil is coiled in straight loops, but an attached coil uses a figure of eight method since you can't rotate the line (sorry, the sailing slipping out again - rope) one turn per loop to avoid twists. Media URL: http://www.animatedknots.com/coiling/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
Description:

[flicrat]

And necklaces and bracelets wrap inextricably - and inexplicably!- round each other in a jewellery box,even when placed separately and neatly in the drawer.

[albaqwerty]

it The Borrowers nothing to do with thermothingy physics stuff :)