Wow, now that's long-haired stuff. I'd never survive in a university physics class today... --- Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:

The coathanger phenomenon has to do with a critical mass, only loosely defined. If a coat closet has a number of hangers below critical mass, each time you visit the closet there will be fewer coathangers. Conversely, if the number of hangers is above critical mass, then they will apparently multiply without human intervention. At critical, mass the number of hangers remains roughly constant (although something akin to Hawking radiation may cause the number of hangers to vary slightly, hinting at the underlying instability).

I have to admit that I haven't studied this recently, and my own experience goes back to the time of wire coathangers. With the increasing popularity of plastic coathangers, the theory may need adjustment.

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