"You can't push on a string" is a kind of engineer's cliche about the mechanical properties of string. Typically a loose length of string comes to mind when we think of string. Normally we don't expect a loose string to offer (much) resistance when we push on it we say "you can't push on a string". However, by tensioning a string it does become possible to meaningfully speak of pushing on it.
As far as I know such a single string tensegrity structure can be explained using natural law that is over 300 years old. This is not an argument against tradition but I suppose older traditions of how to build structures have kept people from recognizing it as a possibility until more recently. >From a traditional perspective this structure does not look like a free standing structure but it does stand upright like one. harry On Sat, Apr 8, 2023 at 4:20 PM Robin <mixent...@aussiebroadband.com.au> wrote: > In reply to H L V's message of Sat, 8 Apr 2023 14:22:26 -0400: > Hi, > > ...but you are not pushing on a string. The "push" acts on the solid ribs, > which in turn connect with each other by > "pulling" on the central string. In fact all the strings are "pulled" on. > > [snip] > >"You can't push on a string" > > > >I think this single string tensegrity structure is even more awe inspiring > >when he briefly holds it as a cantilever before standing it up right. > >If you skip to the second half of the video he shows how to use a block of > >wood to assemble the structure more quickly. > >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds-scY9qESE > > > >Another builder made a taller and heavier single string tensegrity tower > as > >well as a single string table. > >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sUjpkmisBs > > > >Some history. > >The Latvian-Soviet artist/sculptor/engineer Karlis Johansons exhibited his > >first "self-tensile constructions" in 1921. The engineering and sculptural > >possibilities of such pre-tensioned systems were further explored by > >Buckminster Fuller and the sculptor Kenneth Snelson in the second half of > >the 20th century. (eg. see Snelson's "Needle Tower") The word tensegrity > >(tensile + integrity) coined by Fuller is now the common name for such > >structures. I have noticed that the first tensegrity structures focused on > >the use of straight struts, but now people are starting to explore the > >possibilities of using curved struts. > > > >Harry > Cloud storage:- > > Unsafe, Slow, Expensive > > ...pick any three. > >
