Knot

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Both length and velocity are measured in knots; in the former case, it is equivalent to a Nautical mile; in the latter, to a Nautical mile per hour.


A knot may consist of a length of one or more ropes, cord, twine, string, strap or chain interweaved so as to create in the rope the ability to bind to itself or to some other object. Some knots are are well adapted to bind to particular objects such as another rope, load, cleat, ring, pole or constrict a object. Decorative knots often bind to themselves to produce attractive patterns.

Knots are essential in many industrial, work, home or recreational activities. Truckers need to tie down a load and will use a Trucker's hitch. What ever the activity, on the water sailing, on a cliff side rock [[climbing] or self-burried pre-maturely spelunking under millions of tons of rock. Learning well tested knots prior to some hazardous activity introduces a critical measure of safety to many activities. Simple activites such as running a load from the hardware store home can result in disaster if a clumsy twist in a cord passes for a knot.

The list of knots is extensive but there are some general properites common to the various knot categories. For example, loop knots share the attribute of having some kind of an anchor point tied on the standing end (such as a loop or overhand knot) into which the working end is hitched (using a round turn.

Knots are often classified as loop, bend, whipping, decorative and hitch.

Alphabetical List

descriptions and tying instructions should be added

In knot theory, a knot is an embedding of a circle in 3-D space, considered up to deformations (isotopies). This is basically equivalent to a conventional knot with the ends of the string tied together to prevent it from becoming undone. In higher dimensions, circles are unknotted anyways, so one considers embeddings of spheres and hyperspheres.

See also: Scouting