Monday, August 30, 2010

The mathematics of jewelry


The Technology Review blog points us to this work by two Danish scientists, studying the mathematical physics behind Viking neck rings:


When one twist these two wires, the resulting double strand gets shorter and shorter (Fig. 1B). At a certain point, no more rotations can be added without deforming the material or introducing intrusions – this is where the curve changes from blue to red. The maximally rotated geometry is universal and therefore independent of the skills of the craftsman.

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