News Physics 26 June 2018
The physics of knitting
That baby jumper your nan is making rests on some surprisingly complex calculations. Phil Dooley reports.
A new theory could help engineers to create materials for use as smart textiles, artificial tissue and even the aerodynamic contours in jet turbines – by knitting them.
The oldest known example of knitting is from Egypt over a thousand years ago, yet until now scientists did not fully understand how a non-stretchy yarn could be entangled into such a stretchy fabric.
The new study, published in the journal Physical Review X, boils knitwear properties down to three parameters – yarn bendiness, the length of yarn, and the number of crossing points in each stitch.
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/the-physics-of-knitting
