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Paradoxical behaviour of mechanical and electrical networks

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Abstract

WE describe here a network of strings and springs in which cutting a string that supports a weight results in a rise of the weight at equilibrium. In an analogous electronic circuit of passive two-terminal devices (resistors and Zener diodes), adding a current-carrying path increases the voltage drop across the circuit. These systems are mechanical and electrical analogues of a paradox of congested traffic flow1,2. Along with similar hydraulic and thermal analogues, they show how non-intuitive equilibrium behaviour can arise in physical networks made up of classical components.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 20, New York, New York, 10021-6399, USA

    Joel E. Cohen

  2. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Paul Horowitz

Authors
  1. Joel E. Cohen
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  2. Paul Horowitz
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Cohen, J., Horowitz, P. Paradoxical behaviour of mechanical and electrical networks. Nature 352, 699–701 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/352699a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/352699a0

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