The science of the pop-up tent

It must be the biggest single cause of tent-rage for campers and festival-goers.

You’ve had a great weekend, the sun has shone and the company was great. But then it’s time to go home and you have to get that pop-up tent back into its bag.

It might have only taken 30 seconds to pitch but if you don’t get it right first time you could be wrestling with those flexible rings for hours.

Now scientists have come to the rescue and worked out the best method to fold away your instant tent - using mathematics.

New research published in the science journal Nature reveals a scientific theory that could simplify the whole packing away process.

The researchers, led by Alain Jonas of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, have come up with a detailed route for how best to fold the tent into three-rings so it fits back in the bag.

Rather than trying to explain it, take a look at this animation.



The bad news is, that even using this easy method, Mr Jonas reckons it would be best to have three people on the job when it comes to folding a real tent.

The scientist said: “We have found the best way to fold rings.

“You naturally start by deforming the ring in two lobes, since this is easiest. But then you have to deform the ring further into shapes that require a lot of energy.”



But he added: “If you take the pathway we propose, you have to use more energy at the start, but then have to cross lower energy barriers to reach the energy valley of the ring coiled in three.”

Mr Jonas and his colleagues say the theory also applies to folding laundry baskets, pop-up football goals and sculptures made of wood or paper.

The researchers show that these shapes can be predicted accurately using a mathematical theory called 'overcurvature’, or the amount by which a ring is made more curved than a perfect, unfolded circle of the same length.

For more information visit the Nature website or Alain Jonas’ own site

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