The Skeptical Teacher

Musings of a science teacher & skeptic in an age of woo.

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Self-Tying Knot Trick from TAM9

Posted by mattusmaximus on July 18, 2011

Well, I’m back from The Amaz!ng Meeting 9 in Las Vegas, and I’m slowly but surely getting caught up on things.  I just wanted to take a moment to share with everyone a trick I showed off during my “Skepticism in the Classroom” lecture at TAM9.  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 my Youtube channel for the solution 😉

This entry was posted on July 18, 2011 at 11:07 pm and is filed under education, magic tricks, mathematics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Self-Tying Knot Trick from TAM9”

  1. Jack’s TAM 9 Adventure to a Land “Up Over”: Days 2 and 3 « Homologous Legs said

    July 22, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    […] on how best to introduce skeptical content and critical thinking lessons into lessons and lectures. Matt’s rope trick was especially fun – free […]

    Reply

  2. “Skepticism in the Classroom” at the American Association of Physics Teachers « The Skeptical Teacher said

    August 8, 2011 at 10:54 pm

    […] critical thinking exercises for your students: my “Uncle Harry” card trick, and my self-tying knot trick (the solution is here).   […]

    Reply

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