[goldcd]

No - it's Duplo and designed to be abused. It's not going to suddenly explode into shards of plastic in the middle of the night.

Probably need to define "too much tension". Is a bit of tension that enables you to build the thing you want and couldn't otherwise, a good or a bad thing? (e.g. maybe I want a spiral)

I'd have thought if overly tensioned, once tolerances were overcome, the track would develop a camber. Maybe build on a perfectly flat, frictionless surface and then if your track isn't perfectly level you know there's tension.

[mhb]

It's a math problem. Read TFA.

[Retric]

It’s an engineering program masquerading as a math problem. Long enough racks can have misalignment without noticeable issues because each segment has some play.

[mhb]

No. It's the other way around. If someone did FEA on the track and showed you a stress map, it would be obvious how uninteresting framing it as an engineering problem is.

[Retric]

The question opens with a question about the material properties of a physical object and many of the replies address that.

As a pure math problem it’s got a few constraints such as the track not physically intersecting with itself which go beyond the stated question.

So yes it’s a toy problem, but one constrained by real world objects.

[mhb]

Yeah, that's human interest to get you interested in the problem and how it occurred to the author. Do you think the trolley problem is about trolley cars on rails with switches?

[Retric]

The most upvoted response was objectively wrong due to real world constraints.

The real world is irrelevant in the trolly problem or the 4 color theorem etc.

You may personally be interested in it as a purely mathematical problem, but he’s looking for a real world answer so poor abstractions are useless. On the other hand “I would first check for track flatness. When locked in with extra effort, the loop will warp a little, basically going into 3d instead of flat 2d.” is a useful shortcut.

[hgsgm]

It's a real world problem, but one constrained by toy objects.

[lostlogin]

I’d argue is a chemistry problem, or maybe material science, as the type of plastic dictates the stress tolerance.

[notatoad]

engineering takes into account material properties. the engineering solution is "no, that tension is way inside the design tolerances"

the stack overflow answers are math.

[Retric]

The top rated answer was math, but it ignored the possibility that a section of track would be under tension to avoid intersecting with itself. For a mathematical curve that’s no issue, but physical objects add additional constraints to the problem.

[goldcd]

and I quote "I am sure this could be calculated mathematically, but I prefer a more quick, practical way."

[acyou]

TFA: "I am sure this could be solved mathematically, but I prefer something quick and practical."

[slingnow]

"Too much tension" is not a math problem. It's an engineering problem (and a poorly defined one, at that).

Try thinking for a few seconds before posting such a meritless dismissal.

[mhb]

goldcd> It's not going to suddenly explode into shards of plastic in the middle of the night.

That gives you the impression that goldcd fully comprehended the scope of the inquiry?