How come tied shoelaces love to untie, but clumsily packed away wires love to knot themselves?
In: Other
Put simply because there’s more ways to do that than there is the alternative.
For wires, there are only maybe 2 or 3 configurations that we would consider to be “untangled” but there are billions of different ways to be tangled. So if you put them in a draw, move the drawer around, etc, you’re essentially randomising the configuration. Since theres more tangled configurations than untangled ones, statistically, you’re much more likely to end up with a tangled one.
With shoelaces, a similar thing is happening. There is only one way for it to be tied, but a bunch of ways for them to be untied or tangled unhelpfully. So every movement nudges the laces randomly, and statistically you’re more likely to move in the direction of being less tied up, eventually leading to them untying themselves.
Latest Answers