Science World Blog
Why do my earphones tangle so much?
Last Updated (Sunday, 22 January 2012 17:55) Written by Raymond Nakamura
Listening to podcasts has transformed the time I spend washing dishes, exercising, and watching my daughter play in the schoolyard. But why do my earphones get tangled so easily?
Entropy
In the Ontario Science Centre podcast, the Redshift report (episode 32), they explained that the entanglement was an example of entropy in statistical mechanics, that there are way more ways you don't want something than you do. If you wrap up or clip your cord, you are adding energy to make the system more orderly. But this is too much trouble for me and it seems like it could damage the wiring inside more easily.
Knotty is Knice
Enter Dorian Raymer, an undergrad at the University of California San Diego who was curious about the mathematics of knots and a biophysics professor named Doug Smith who suggested Raymer take an experimental approach to the question. They won an Ignobel Prize for their study on how knots form when you put a cord in a spinning box or as they called it, "Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string."
In Raymer's sometimes awkward talk on the paper, he mentions factors affecting the chance of forming a knot in a cord bouncing around in a box. They were interested in questions like knot formation in DNA and umbilical cords, but the results have clear application to understanding the earphone phenomenon. Having three strands in the earphone system and weight of the ear buds at the ends could further increase the odds of entanglement.
Length
The cord had to be at least 46 centimeters to form a knot. This must be why you never get knots in spaghetti. And if you had some way have using shorter earphone cables, it could reduce the chance of knots.
Flexibility
More flexible materials are more prone to having knots. So if you could make the earphone cables stiffer, you could reduce the chance of knots. One product I came across does this by adding springs onto the branch cables.
Rotation Rate
The more they get tumbled, the better chance they have of getting tangled. This made me realize that it might be better to keep the earphones in my breast pocket instead of my pants pocket.
Number of Rotations
The more rotations, the higher probability of getting a knot. So if you leave your earphones jostling around for longer, the more likely they will get tangled.
Box Size
A bigger box resulted in more knots. So if you leave your earphones in a smaller pocket instead of a big bag, you might have a better chance of not getting knotted.
Raymer ran over 3000 tests. If you add your observations of earphone behaviours in the comments, we could test these parameters. Or, if you are more motivated by money than pure knowledge, people are starting to sell various solutions and analyzing these parameters might help you invent the next big thing.
Happy Year of the Dragon
Last Updated (Tuesday, 17 January 2012 17:25) Written by Raymond Nakamura
This is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese horoscope. My interest in astrology is only why people believe in such things. Still I find dragons, both Eastern and Western, a wonderful meme. I decided to look into ways they have influenced our naming of actual living things.
Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus undatus)
I'm not sure which comes first, the dragon or the egg, but these fruits originally from central America, look like they might hatch into dragons, a little bit like the ones in Game of Thrones. Have you ever had one? I think they look more interesting than they taste.
Dragon tree (Dracaena)
Dragon fruit does not grow on dragon trees, however. This tree from Africa gets its moniker for producing a resin that looks like dragon's blood.
Dragonfish (Gobioides broussonetti)
This scavenger, has a big mouth and a long body with spikes down its back, so it does resemble an Asian style dragon. It lives in warm Atlantic estuaries from the southeastern States to Brazil. It is also called the Violet Goby, but dragonfish probably sells better in pet stores.
These come in a few species, including Leafy (Phycodurus eques) and Weedy (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), are related to seahorses and native to the ocean off southern Australia. These slow moving creatures could not behave in a less dragon-like way, but they do look interesting with all the camouflaging frilly bits hanging off them.
Dragonflies (Anisoptera)
Most people know about the adult dragonflies, but their aquatic larvae are perhaps even more dragon-like, with their Alien-inspiring extendable jaws and pointy jet propulsion posteriors.
Dragon Lizards (Agamidae)
Many of these Australian lizards have beautiful colours and the bearded ones have spikes around their heads that make them sort of dragon-like. You can find a funny YouTube video of someone's pet beard dragon playing Ant Crusher on an iphone.
Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
Living on a few islands in the South Pacific, they only became known to science after World War I. They don't fly or breathe fire, but they can reach over 3 m in length, and are the heaviest lizards in the world, so they are not to be taken lightly. They never brush their teeth and the bacteria in their mouths, in addition to actual venom can be worse than their bite.
Do you know of any other dragon inspired living things?
What Did My True Love of Science Give to Me?
Last Updated (Monday, 29 November 1999 16:00) Written by Raymond Nakamura
On the twelfth day after solstice, my true love of science gave to me —
2 strands of DNA and
I know some of these numbers are debatable and it's hard to sing, but isn't it the thought that counts?
How Does Spin Affect a Football?
Last Updated (Monday, 28 November 2011 23:04) Written by Raymond Nakamura
With the BC Lions winning the Grey Cup at home, football is in the air, and this got me thinking about footballs in the air. If you've played Angry Birds, you can appreciate the importance of the angle, initial force, and mass of the object in the trajectory of a projectile. With a football, another important factor is spin.
When Pigskins Fly
When you (assuming you are a well-trained quarterback) throw a football with your right hand (assuming you are a right-handed quarterback), the ball rolls off your fingertips (in particular your index) in a clockwise spin (assuming you are a quarterback with enough time to watch your beautiful throw before getting squashed by a defensive linebacker).
As the Football Turns
The spin results in angular momentum around the long axis of the football. This keeps the pointy end of a football facing into the wind, so it is more streamlined. A faster moving object requires more spin to remain stable, so throwing a football further (and faster) requires more spin. As the ball follows an arc through the air, the air pressure interacts with the spin, so the direction of the long axis of the ball follows the same arc. Without air, the angle of the axis would stay the same.
Downs
The spin also keeps air attached to the surface of the football, reducing drag. Less drag means the ball won't slow down as quickly. But the difference in drag is not symmetrical because of the spin, resulting in some drift in the direction of the spin. In other words, a football thrown by a right-handed quarterback will tend to veer right as it descends.
Who knew so much went into throwing a football? Hail Mary!
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I'm not sure about the effect of gravity in this one.
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