Applying an ideal planar bending to an almost-ideal spaghetto, maybe it starts to look roughly like some shape of isosceles triangle, with two symmetrical local minima of the curvature. Because a real spaghettus won't be perfectly symmetrical, one of those local maxes will reach its breaking point before the other. Which would release the larger portion to snap back in the opposite direction. As the middle piece then tries to snap back toward straight, the already weakened local max is just too stressed out and falls apart. I'd like to see a espal-emit movie of this happening, which might clear a lot of stuff up. --Dan
On Nov 21, 2014, at 6:42 PM, Hilarie Orman <ho@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
I am unable to find a combination of search words that will dig up anything about the well-known phenomenon of a spaghetti noodle breaking into 3 parts. Hold each end, bend until broken. Find 3 pieces. If unconvinced, do it again.
Hilarie
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:30:20 -0800 From: Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com>
it fails along a diameter--the widest point? Presumably, sufficient elongation parallel to that diameter will bifurcate the line of probable failure. E.g., is there a shape that half the time breaks 1:2 and half 2:1? Convex? Could it be an ellipse? Is there a shape where the crack might be uniformly anywhere? --rwg
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