Cords/hoses- a good research project/study idea for any physicists

cowman

cowman

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You could very well discover something that might change the world here.

Why is it that every single time you drag a cord or hose across a room/floor/yard they seem to seek out the one and only thing it might be possible to snag on and do so?

Also, related, why do cords/hoses always get tangled when you lay them down in a pile without rolling them up? How does this form a knot every time without being tied into one?

Yeah it's a stupid simple thing but it's something I bet most people have struggled with and some of us almost daily.
 
I use a round plastic clippy thingie I actually bought at Oshkosh. The cord wraps around the core of the thing, and the springy plastic holds the rest. Really easy to use. Wouldn't know where to get another, either.
 
A cord reel is a lot easier to deal with. Perhaps not manly, but effective.
 
Sac Arrow said:
A cord reel is a lot easier to deal with. Perhaps not manly, but effective.
Click to expand...
I burned up a cord reel and extension cord once by failing to completely unreel it ... the part still coiled up in the reel overheated badly.
 
gkainz said:
I burned up a cord reel and extension cord once by failing to completely unreel it ... the part still coiled up in the reel overheated badly.
Click to expand...

I'm going to step out on a limb and suggest that your cord was possibly bad.
 
I bundle my extension cords over 25' with the daisy-chain method and it works well. However, with rope/rode/line it's actually better just to let it fall loose in a container than to try and coil it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sac Arrow said:
A cord reel is a lot easier to deal with. Perhaps not manly, but effective.
Click to expand...

Extending the manly theme, I use a poor-man's solution. It's just a sheet of cardboard, about 2' X 4', folded to 1' X 4'. I wrap the cord around it by hand.

Advantages: Never gets tangled. Easy to store on a shelf. Costs nothing. Requires no Jones polynomials to understand.
 
NoHeat said:
Extending the manly theme, I use a poor-man's solution. It's just a sheet of cardboard, about 2' X 4', folded to 1' X 4'. I wrap the cord around it by hand.

Advantages: Never gets tangled. Easy to store on a shelf. Costs nothing. Requires no Jones polynomials to understand.
Click to expand...

Thats how I store all of my Christmas lights, although obviously on smaller pieces of cardboard.
 
The idea of a mechanism to organize/wrap a cord being unmanly had never occurred to me before.

What I do always seem to run into with that stuff is it always either won't fit the cord I have or it's bulky and ens up being almost as annoying as the problem it was meant to solve.
 
all chords or rope etc should be done with either the over/under method or a figure 8. That way they are being looped to the left and then to the right so that they do not twist up.


or do the figure 8 like this:

 
I've tried the over/under versus the daisy-chain, and prefer daisy-chain. It holds itself together so that you can toss it in the back of a truck bed or hang it on the shop wall without it "coming from together" or unraveling.
 
I manage literally miles of cables. I have over two miles of temporary cables most between 5' and 100' from heavy power to tiny data and fiber sitting in the same room with me as I type this.

Over under for cable management or we stuff you in a road case after being tarred and feathered till you learn your lesson. That is SOP in the entertainment production world.

Over under also allows you to toss the cable with out it being tangled.
 
gkainz said:
I burned up a cord reel and extension cord once by failing to completely unreel it ... the part still coiled up in the reel overheated badly.
Click to expand...

Sac Arrow said:
I'm going to step out on a limb and suggest that your cord was possibly bad.
Click to expand...

jsstevens said:
Or overloaded.
Click to expand...

Or it was really hot out. Or all three. ;-)

Shawn said:
I manage literally miles of cables. I have over two miles of temporary cables most between 5' and 100' from heavy power to tiny data and fiber sitting in the same room with me as I type this.

Over under for cable management or we stuff you in a road case after being tarred and feathered till you learn your lesson. That is SOP in the entertainment production world.

Over under also allows you to toss the cable with out it being tangled.
Click to expand...

The surest way to be killed by any roadie is to grab a mic cable and loop it into a circle using your shoulder and elbow. LOL.

You will be tackled and you probably will die. :-)
 
denverpilot said:
Or it was really hot out. Or all three. ;-)



The surest way to be killed by any roadie is to grab a mic cable and loop it into a circle using your shoulder and elbow. LOL.

You will be tackled and you probably will die. :)
Click to expand...

Yes. Yes I would tackle you and if not kill you, at least scare you to death! I've got instrument and mic cables that are 30 plus years old that I use all the time and they show no signs of wearing out. But I coil them carefully every time.
 
gkainz said:
I burned up a cord reel and extension cord once by failing to completely unreel it ... the part still coiled up in the reel overheated badly.
Click to expand...

Sac Arrow said:
I'm going to step out on a limb and suggest that your cord was possibly bad.
Click to expand...

jsstevens said:
Or overloaded.
Click to expand...

denverpilot said:
Or it was really hot out. Or all three. ;-)
Click to expand...

None of the above ... a quality 12a extension cord powering a 12A electric griddle on a pancake breakfast. Google "overheated extension cord on reel" for a number of hits. It ain't real until someone doesn't get pancakes!" :)
 
gkainz said:
None of the above ... a quality 12a extension cord powering a 12A electric griddle on a pancake breakfast. Google "overheated extension cord on reel" for a number of hits. It ain't real until someone doesn't get pancakes!" :)
Click to expand...

Interesting. There seems to be some dissention on whether the coiled state results in an inductive load that results in additional heating (and the consensus says that is not an issue), or the coils reduce heat dissipation leading to an insulation meltdown. It seems to me that if the cord gets hot enough that an inability for it to adequately dissipate heat leads to a meltdown, it's probably overloaded to begin with. But yes, I see there are various warnings about using cords in a coiled state. I've never had an issue myself. But I have some heavy duty cords and I doubt I've pushed their amperage limits.
 
I should have said 12 gauge cord above, not 12A ... oh well
 
Sac Arrow said:
[snip] It seems to me that if the cord gets hot enough that an inability for it to adequately dissipate heat leads to a meltdown, it's probably overloaded to begin with. [snip]
Click to expand...

This was my thought.

But if it was a 12AWG cord (and assuming it was not a very long run) then the electric griddle (while probably a significant load) shouldn't have made it heat up that much. My rule of thumb is if it's warm to the touch (not hot) it's probably to hot. Get a bigger wire.

I don't use my cords coiled because I've never used a roll to hold them. I coil them like' you'd coil a sailboat line (i.e. get the twist correct so it holds the coil). I've got cords more than 35 years old that are still just fine.

John
 
"Above a critical string length, the probability P of knotting at first increased sharply with length but then saturated below 100%. Finite agitation time and jamming of the string due to its stiffness result in lower probability, but P approaches 100% with long, flexible strings. The relative probability of forming a knot decreased exponentially with minimum crossing number and Möbius energy, mathematical measures of knot complexity. Based on the observation that long, stiff strings tend to form a coiled structure when confined, we propose a simple model to describe the knot formation based on random “braid moves” of the string end. Our model can qualitatively account for the observed distribution of knots and dependence on agitation time and string length.”

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/s...nation-earphones-always-tangled/#.WRXlU8a1tPY
 
I should know better than to not be precise with this gang. My 12 ga goes bang, too. :)
My 12 AWG cord melted. :(
 
I like the Quickwinder bucket, we have used them at work for probably 15 years. I got one for my father for father's day, years ago, he loves it. Been waiting for my kids to get me one, just missed another chance ;(
 
Shawn said:
Over under for cable management or we stuff you in a road case after being tarred and feathered till you learn your lesson. That is SOP in the entertainment production world.
Click to expand...
Oh good, a new compulsion. Thanks.
 
I learned cord management on the deck of a ship while in the Navy. I never have issues because I coil every cord the same and always have flat coils. You get in trouble when one of the coils has a twist. Sometimes for cords or hoses, I'll graduate the size of each coil so it uncoils without problems when it is laid flat.
 
cgrab said:
I learned cord management on the deck of a ship while in the Navy. I never have issues because I coil every cord the same and always have flat coils. You get in trouble when one of the coils has a twist. Sometimes for cords or hoses, I'll graduate the size of each coil so it uncoils without problems when it is laid flat.
Click to expand...

Yep...my air and water hoses and electrical cords have all been "trained" with a half twist in each loop. I roll them up in loops of the same diameter every time. They all hang flat on the wall hooks, and uncoil without any problems.
 
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