What Causes Paper Clip Tangles?

[Marat]

Whenever I buy new paper clips in a plastic or cardboard container, they are always tangled in such a way that it is extremely difficult to untangle them, since the parts of each clip intertwine with the parts of one, two, three, or even more other paper clips. However, if I just shake up a group of paper clips myself, they don't get tangled. Also, it is difficult and time-consuming to try to retangle groups of them by hand. This leads me to wonder if there is something about the manufacturing process that causes them to emerge all tangled up with each other, and if there is some tweaking of the process which could eliminate this minor but pesky problem.

[baxtrom]

Whenever I buy new paper clips in a plastic or cardboard container, they are always tangled in such a way that it is extremely difficult to untangle them

 

Ha ha, great subject for Jerry Seinfeld!

I think they tangle because of the fourth law of thermodynamics, i.e. Murphy's law!

[CaptainPanic]

The paper clips are shaken into a relatively dense packing in a small container (in other words: many paperclips, not much space).

If you shake them up yourself, you might not achieve the same density as in the box. The density of the paperclips will result in more direct contact between paperclips, which will lead to an entangled mess.

 

If they are actually linked together, like in a chain, then I don't really know... are the paperclips 'open' or does it take some physical effort to open up the paperclip to slide the 2nd paperclip into it?

 

Mighty interesting question. Perhaps we should open up a subforum of 'paperclip science'? Sorry, only joking... it's actually a fun subject, and everybody can experiment at home.

[Airbrush]

Interesting problem. I use paper clips all day, every day at work, and I only occasionally, a couple of times per week, find 2 or 3 entangled, not as often as you do. To my experience, when I open a new box of paper clips, they are not as entangled as you find them. Maybe something odd about the company that manufactures your paper clips. Who is the manufacturer of your paper clips? Our company uses Universal brand paper clips.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Airbrush

[michel123456]

Maybe Marat suffers from Parkinson.

[Marat]

The paper clips I use are made by Acco (www.acco.com), with offices in Wheeling, Illinois, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada, and Mexico. They are classified as '#1' paper clips, which I suppose relates to their size.

 

Even if just a very few paper clips in any given box were tangled, it is still a mystery, given the difficulty of manually entangling or disentangling them. Since their component wires are so tightly pressed together, pulling them apart to hook one into the other, which is how they often appear in the package, takes a lot of force (even if you don't suffer from Parkinsonianism!)

 

Since I deal sometimes with medical reagent strips and find that these are also stuck together in their package, I assume that this sticking together of things is the result of the way they are manufactured. Perhaps we should email Acco and ask them?

[Airbrush]

I know how you feel Marat. For some reason it is especially frustrating to have to stop your work momentum and untangle a few paper clips.

 

I actually use recycled clips mostly and rarely open a new box of clips, so maybe that is why I don't get many tangles. I agree with you that, it actually takes some effort to tangle 2 clips together. How do they do it by themselves?!