Elastic Interactions (IMAGE)

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Elastic Interactions

Caption

This image shows the sequence of operations that leads to the spontaneous creation of hemihelices and helices. Starting with two long elastomer strips of different lengths, the shorter one is stretched to the same length as the other. While the stretching force, P, is maintained, the two strips are joined side-by-side. Then, as the force is slowly released, the bi-strip twists and bends to create either a helix or a hemihelix.

Credit

Jia Liu

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