Why do headphones get tangled

For the average pair of earphones defined as centimetres in length this means the probability of a knot spontaneously forming in an enclosed space about the size of your bag is just under 50 per cent. Raymer and Smith also noted that the Y shape of earphones increases the chance of knotting substantially, with only one end of the wire or cable having to cross another to start off the tumble-weed reaction of a spontaneous tangle.

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? They then used these data and computer simulations to explain how the knots are likely formed see figure below ; basically, when jostled, the strings tend to form coils, and then the loose end weaves through the other strands, much like braiding or weaving. And voila! Tangled headphones to make your day just that much angrier.

Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string. We performed experiments in which a string was tumbled inside a box and found that complex knots often form within seconds.

We used mathematical knot theory to analyze the knots. We analyzed the knots by calculating their Jones polynomials via computer analysis of digital photos of the string.

Remarkably, almost all were identified as prime knots: different types, having minimum crossing numbers up to 11, were observed in 3, trials. That last part is perhaps the most magical of all: The research shows that your earphones are indeed spontaneously knotting themselves.

Sure, it's because of their length and the agitation of the container they're in. But the knots really do form as a matter of physics, not because of your personal lack of neatness. Though Apple has shipped its white in-ear headphones with every iDevice since the iPod in , Apple most recently updated its earbuds — now called "EarPods" — in late Hopefully Apple will pay attention to the science of tangling — and its own patent application filed in , which proposed thicker wires to prevent bending and looping — when it decides to release new earbuds at some point in the future.

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Raymer and Smith performed 3, trials to demonstrate this. Apple's iPhone earbuds are centimetres 55 inches long and thus right at the 50 percent tangle-rate-sweet-spot, at the top of the curve. In other words, if you place your earbuds in a bag the odds of them tangling into a knot as you carry them around are 50 percent, at least.

Raymer and Smith didn't look at strings with more than one branch, but anecdotally I can confirm that the tangle-rate is pretty high. Finally, here is a schematic showing how a cord that starts off neatly coiled - you don't just stuff them in there, do you? It shows that one end of a cord only has to cross another part of the cord twice in order to start spontaneously knotting itself:.