Mathematics Reveals Universal Properties of Rope

April 13, 2010

A recent paper by Jakob Borh and Kasper Olsen reveals some interesting properties of a craft usually neglected by mathematicians.

The art of rope-making dates back to the ancient Egyptians, who left pictures of their craft on the inside of tombs. According to an article in Technology Review's The Physics arXiv Blog, rope-making has been largely neglected by mathematicians, despite its obvious geometric properties.

In their paper, Borh and Olsen (Technical University of Denmark) prove that ropes cannot have more than a certain number of turns per unit length, a number which depends on the diameter of the component strands that a rope with a smaller number of turns than this maximum will always twist in one direction or another under tension.

"How these properties of ropes have escaped attention is a mystery, given they've been around for so long," concluded the article in Technology Review.

Read the full article here.