This is a trick I performed during my lecture at The Amaz!ng Meeting 9 in Las Vegas. In this video, I show how to use a simple nylon rope to perform a *seemingly* mathematically impossible feat: having the rope tie a knot in itself without releasing either end of the rope. I show this to my students as a lesson in skepticism and critical thinking, and it never ceases to catch their interest.
Can you figure out the trick? Stay tuned to this channel for the solution ;)
**SPOILER ALERT: If you want to see the solution, check out my 'Solution to Self-tying knot trick' video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPsrmdWCAEA
For more information on the physics behind these and other interesting physical feats, plus my musings on science & pseudoscience in general, check out my personal blog, The Skeptical Teacher: http://skepticalteacher.org
I remember seeing this trick for the first time in a documentary about Martin Gardner called The Nature of Things.
Rxe08 6 months ago