Mobius Strip: ‘Endless Ribbon’ Mystery Solved
Dr Eugene Starostin and Dr Gert van der Heijden
recently published the solution to a 75-year-old mystery.
Dr Eugene Starostin and Dr Gert van der Heijden recently published the solution to a 75-year-old mystery.
The two academics have discovered how to predict the shape of a Möbius strip, the ‘endless ribbon’ which is obtained by taking a rectangular strip of paper, twisting one end through 180 degrees, and then joining the ends.
Dr Starostin and Dr van der Heijden realised that the shape can be described by a set of 20-year-old equations that have only been published online. Their letter to ‘Nature Materials’ demonstrates that these differential equations govern the shapes of elastic strips when they are at rest, and enable researchers to calculate their geometry.
“This is the first non-trivial application of this mathematical theory,” said Dr Starostin. “It could prove to be useful to other research communities, such as mechanics and physics.”
At the moment, their notes in Nature Materials are pay-per-view.
Posted: Fri - July 27, 2007 at 07:53 AM