Science behind ponytail revealed

Physicists have come up with an equation that explains and predicts the shape of a ponytail.

The report in Physical Review Letters journal could help scientists better understand natural materials, such as wool and fur.

The new equation takes into account the stiffness of hairs, the effects of gravity and the presence of random curliness or waviness.

The work was carried out by a British team of researchers.

"It's a remarkably simple equation," explained Prof Raymond Goldstein, who is the Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems at Cambridge University.

He added that the findings showed how physics could be used to "solve a problem that has puzzled scientists and artists ever since Leonardo da Vinci remarked on the fluid-like streamlines of hair in his notebooks 500 years ago".

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