the physics of wires

[sonambulo]

lets say you have a piece of wire and it's anchored on both ends. the goal is to stretch the wire slightly beyond its original length. unfortunately, the wire is particularly obstinate and will not budge simply by pulling at both ends.

now i know you can increase tension by pulling at both ends and adding a weight in the middle. alternately you could twist one anchor 360 or even 720 degrees and pull both ends.

so my first question relates to circular tension. if you could wrap the wire or even half the wire over a spindle or wheel, and then pull on both anchors...would this increase tension throughout the wire? if so, would it be moreso than the aforementioned methods?

my other question is what other methods exist to add tension across the wire? of course one could add more force but for this example consider the force as a fixed variable.

thanks.

 

[dkozloski]

To tighten the wire, reduce the ambient temperature so it will contract. Here in Alaska when the sub minus 40deg F weather hits, the telephone and power wires can become so taught that they acheive resonance with ambient vibrations and dance up and down or in extrteme cases produce a singing noise.

 

[sonambulo]

no i want to extend the wire

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: dkozloski
To tighten the wire, reduce the ambient temperature so it will contract. Here in Alaska when the sub minus 40deg F weather hits, the telephone and power wires can become so taught that they acheive resonance with ambient vibrations and dance up and down or in extrteme cases produce a singing noise.

that's an interesting way of approaching the problem.... but thats the other half of what's required. heat the wire first, so it expands, anchor the 2 ends, then lower the temperature.