{"id":27755,"date":"2017-04-12T05:30:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T09:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=27755"},"modified":"2017-04-11T21:15:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T01:15:19","slug":"why-your-shoelaces-come-untied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/","title":{"rendered":"Why your shoelaces come untied"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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\"Shoelaces_02\"<\/a>On April Fool\u2019s Day, not at the time being able to think of anything better, tried the old gag on two of my granddaughters: \u00a0\u201cYour shoe is untied!\u201d<\/p>\n

One said, \u201cNice try. \u00a0But I\u2019m wearing sandals.\u201d \u00a0With the other, her shoe really was untied.<\/p>\n

I report my failed joke to introduce a fascinating bit of research. \u00a0Engineers have determined why and how people\u2019s shoelaces become untied.<\/p>\n

The action of the foot striking the ground loosens the knot and the swinging of the leg acts much like a hand pulling on the strings.<\/p>\n

This discovery, detailed at\u00a0a physics website after the jump, contributes to\u00a0the field of \u201cknot mechanics,\u201d which turns out to be an important topic.<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n
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From Shoe-string theory: Science shows why shoelaces come untied<\/a>, Phys.Org:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A new study by mechanical engineers at UC Berkeley finally shows why your shoelaces may keep coming untied. It\u2019s a question that everyone asks, often after stopping to retie their shoes, yet one that nobody had investigated until now. The answer, the study suggests, is that a double whammy of stomping and whipping forces acts like an invisible hand, loosening the knot and then tugging on the free ends of your laces until the whole thing unravels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0The study is more than an example of science answering a seemingly obvious question. A better understanding of knot mechanics is needed for sharper insight into how knotted structures fail under a variety of forces. Using a slow-motion camera and a series of experiments, the study shows that shoelace knot failure happens in a matter of seconds, triggered by a complex interaction of forces.<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about knotted structures, if you can start to understand the shoelace, then you can apply it to other things, like DNA or microstructures, that fail under dynamic forces,\u201d said Christopher Daily-Diamond, study co-author and a graduate student at Berkeley. \u201cThis is the first step toward understanding why certain knots are better than others, which no one has really done.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Photo by Oto Zapletal (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April Fool\u2019s Day, not at the time being able to think of anything better, tried the old gag on two of my granddaughters: \u00a0\u201cYour shoe is untied!\u201d One said, \u201cNice try. \u00a0But I\u2019m wearing sandals.\u201d \u00a0With the other, her shoe really was untied. I report my failed joke to introduce a fascinating bit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,40,44],"tags":[199,5360,5361],"class_list":["post-27755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-science","category-technology","tag-april-fools-day","tag-knot-mechanics","tag-shoelaces"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy your shoelaces come untied<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Engineers have discovered why your shoelaces come untied.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why your shoelaces come untied\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Engineers have discovered why your shoelaces come untied.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-12T09:30:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-12T01:15:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/files\/2017\/04\/Shoelaces_02-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/\",\"name\":\"Why your shoelaces come untied\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-12T09:30:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-12T01:15:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Engineers have discovered why your shoelaces come untied.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/04\/why-your-shoelaces-come-untied\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why your shoelaces come untied\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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