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Shape of a ponytail and the statistical physics of hair fiber bundles
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Goldstein, Raymond E., Warren, Patrick and Ball, Robin (2012) Shape of a ponytail and the statistical physics of hair fiber bundles. Physical Review Letters, Vol.108 (No.7). Article no.078101. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.078101
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.078101
Abstract
A general continuum theory for the distribution of hairs in a bundle is developed, treating individual fibers as elastic filaments with random intrinsic curvatures. Applying this formalism to the iconic problem of the ponytail, the combined effects of bending elasticity, gravity, and orientational disorder are recast as a differential equation for the envelope of the bundle, in which the compressibility enters through an “equation of state.” From this, we identify the balance of forces in various regions of the ponytail, extract a remarkably simple equation of state from laboratory measurements of human ponytails, and relate the pressure to the measured random curvatures of individual hairs.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QC Physics | ||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Physics | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Physical Review Letters | ||||
| Publisher: | American Physical Society | ||||
| ISSN: | 0031-9007 | ||||
| Official Date: | 17 February 2012 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Vol.108 | ||||
| Number: | No.7 | ||||
| Page Range: | Article no.078101 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.078101 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
| Open Access Version: |
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