A follow-up to my post #21 on 2-11-11.
I posed the question about the final tensile strength of a multistrand 'rope' being equal to the sum of the tensile strength of its individual strands (threads) to a physicist friend. His response was that as long as the strands lay side-by-side, and not twisted together in any way, the total tensile strength would, in fact, be the sum of the tensile strength of the individual strands.
HOWEVER; if the strands are in anyway twisted together, then the tensile strength is LESS than the sum of the tensile strength of the individual strands. It all has to do with uneven distribution of the various stresses when under tension. Thus, the tensile strength of the tippet ends of our furled leaders is less than the sum of the tensile strength of each individual thread in it.
aged sage
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