Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Shape Born From Rubber Bands

Posted by Unknown on from the sproingees dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Physicists playing with rubber bands have discovered a new shape. In an attempt to create a spring that replicates the light-bending properties of cuttlefish ink sacs, a team of researchers suspended two rubber strips of different lengths. Connecting the bottoms of the two strips to a cup of water, the shorter band stretched to the same length as the longer one. After gluing the two stretched strips together, the researchers gradually drained the water from the cup. As the bands retracted and twisted from the reduced strain, the researchers were shocked to see the formation of a hemihelix with multiple rainbow-shaped boundaries called perversions. The team hopes their work inspires nanodevices and molecules that twist and transform from flat strips into predetermined 3D shapes on demand." There are several videos attached to the original paper, and all can be viewed without flash.

7 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Old phone cords? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Back when I used corded handsets a lot one could strech them out far enough and then when they retracted you would get a very similar shape....

  2. New? by ntshma · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My telephone cord at work has been like this for years.

  3. How is this a New Shape? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I see it in my Desk Phone Cord all the time.

  4. My phone cord has done this for decasdes by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Somehow I don't think a perversion is a new shape.

    --
    I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
  5. i always get those in wires by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    looks like the same thing that i used to get in phone cords.

  6. Phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Looks like what happens when an old-school phone cord gets tangled.

  7. Going for an Ignobel Prize? by tomhath · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe I'm missing something here too. Looks like a twisted up rubber band to me. Although I'm pretty sure I invented a new shape the first time I used monofilament fishing line.