The Greatest Bemusement to ever Befall Mankind.

Many of us human beings are puzzled by things we cannot explain. A lot of the time this is due to not having the correct level of scientific knowledge. If you are thinking that I am referring to the cosmos, or that God thing, THINK AGAIN.

I am in fact referring to one of the greatest bemusements to ever befall mankind..

"Why is it when you leave some wires in a draw/ on the floor/ on the table/ anywhere do they tangle themselves up on their own?"

This below, is in fact a picture from over the edge of my desk.

I am sure you have all wondered about this, or just been frankly pissed off about the time it takes to untangle them all. As a gamer, and a musician that uses electricity-powered devices (mic, guitars, keyboards etc) I used to be constantly befuddled by the disarray that that wires get themselves into as soon as I have left the room.

It is thanks to my A level in Chemistry, a vague understanding of physics, and my brief spell as an undergraduate masters student that I can finally explain. Here is me featured in the lab with some friends of mine from Uni. The photo on facebook is tagged "chem possy LOL". I think that sums it up.

Anyway, it is a simple case of understanding some or all of the 3 (4, if you count the 0th) laws of thermodynamics.

I could go into all the jargon, or direct you to websites that will attempt to explain, but I have to say even wikipedia makes it too complicated for people without a sciencey background to recognise. Fortunately, there is a British Scientist and Author, C. P. Snow, who has a very handy way of understanding them for your average Joe:

"Thermodynamics, is the study of the relationship between heat, work, and internal energy of a system. The 3 laws can be stated as such:

1. You cannot win. (You can't get something from nothing, basically you can't create or destroy energy or matter)
2. You cannot break even. (You can't get back to the same energy state, because ENTROPY ("disorder") ALWAYS INCREASES)
3. You cannot get out of the game. (absolute zero is totally impossible to reach)"

And so you see, the 3 laws of thermodynamics, are just like a really shit game of poker. You can't win. You can't break even, and you can't get out of the game.

The part I have capitalised is the part that concerns these blasted wires.

 Entropy is the key. Although they tell you it is not exactly correct when you study chemistry, Entropy basically does mean "disorder". For example, If you have some blue sand at the bottom of a jar, and some yellow sand at the top of the jar, when you shake it, it will always mix up. It will never in theory sort itself out again into blue and yellow.

.... drumroll please...

AND SO... The reason why wires tangle themselves up when they get nudged or moved is because the entropy of the system of wires always increases, resulting in an increase in disorder. Tangled wires have a higher entropy level than untangled wires, so untangled wires in theory with ALWAYS tangle.

What I am trying to say is, you can't stop it. Wires tangling up is encompassed in the second law of thermodynamics. And those rules are f***ing tight. No loopholes. (hehehe great wire pun)