WIRED ScienceLet’s Do the Shocking Physics of Why Power Lines Sag
You might look at an overhead power line and see an engineering problem. After all, those transmission towers are impressively huge. But if you've ever seen those cables, you probably noticed they seem to hang fairly low. Why they hang low is a great physics question that can be modeled with masses and springs. Basic Model For a Hanging Cable Let's start by creating a model. Suppose I string a cable between two points so it is supported horizontally from theends.
