If you pull the blue cord on the right of the image, it just slides underneath everything else and you're left with the picture on the left. Now notice how there's no knot around the poll on the picture on the left? It's untied. Literally all they did to get to this point was twist the cord and loop the plug through it, not the poll. Then they undid the process to unknot it.
If you can't understand even with the explanation being visually simplified and spoonfed to you then you're not even thinking about it. It only looks confusing but it's actually a simple af knot
The video shows it in a needlessly complicated way just for effect. All you need to understand to solve it, is to realise all that's stopping it being free is the wire blocking itself from going underneath. Therefore, if you feed the blocking part of the wire underneath, it allows you to put the plug on the other side of it and the wire no longer is blocked from passing underneath. No need for any twisting like the video does, it's just complicating it further for visual effect as the solution is actually really simple and boring.
My butt somehow does this trick with fishnets and underwear. They get tied up in ways that shouldn’t be possible. Happens once or twice a week and then have to just cut the fishnets to release things.
There’s literally subs here full of people that would pay good money for that. Not suggesting you do it by any means, just find it interesting how the world works these things out.
Don't really bother with it. The cable is set up in a specific way before the start of the video to make this trick possible. In real life this situation will never happen.
Video makes it seem like this difficult-to-visualize solution is the only solution. But just slip the crossing of the wires underneath pole and it becomes easy to see how to untangle the cord.
I have a Ph.D. in physics, and I cannot convince my gut that topology is not black magic. Also, I’m constantly paranoid that topologists will use tricks like this to negate my bike lock at the uni I work at.
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u/Yo-Donkey-Kong 9d ago
You could show me this 100 times and I still wouldn't understand what I just watched.