capstan effect
capstan effect noun: the friction between a rope (or other flexible material) around a curved surface (the capstan) exponentially amplifies the holding force, allowing a small tension on one side to resist a much larger tension on the other.
Noun
capstan effect (plural capstan effects)
- The friction between a rope (or other flexible material) around a curved surface (the capstan) exponentially amplifies the holding force, allowing a small tension on one side to resist a much larger tension on the other.
- When a cable is being installed, the tension in the cable increases in the straight sections of pipe and is reduced at the bends by the ‘capstan effect’, the input and output tensions expressed by the equation:[…].1999, Alan Harmer, editor, Communication Cables and Related Technologies, IOS Press, →ISBN, page 194
Forms of capstan effect
| plural | capstan effects |
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Questions about capstan effect
- What does capstan effect mean?
- Capstan effect means the friction between a rope (or other flexible material) around a curved surface (the capstan) exponentially amplifies the holding force, allowing a small tension on one side to resist a much larger tension on the other.
- What part of speech is capstan effect?
- Capstan effect is a noun.
- What is the plural of capstan effect?
- The plural of capstan effect is capstan effects.
Words near capstan effect in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: capstan effect (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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