Why/how does cuing ribbon curl when you run the sharp end of a pair of scissors along it? Would any other tool or material ever have this effect?

Question

*CURLING RIBBON, sorry. I was delirious when I posted this.

This has probably baffled me *since* I was five. What is this sorcery?!?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Think about folding a piece of paper and then unfolding it. It keeps the fold a little and the paper bends toward it. Certainly material hold their shape when deformed one of these materials is plastic which curling ribbon is made of. You’re essentially using scissors to make a bunch of tiny bends in the ribbon which it keeps the shape of.