Puzzle – Twiddled Bolts

The helical grooves of two identical bolts are intertwined when they are put together. If you move the bolts around each other as if you were twiddling your thumbs, holding each bolt firmly by the head so that it does not rotate and twiddling them in the manner illustrated, Will the heads

• move closer together,
• move farther apart, or
• remain at their current distance from one another?

Answer:

When you twiddle the two bolts around each other as described in the question the heads of the bolts will remain at their current distance from one another. The helical grooves of the bolts being intertwined won’t cause the heads to move closer together or farther apart in this scenario.

”They will simply rotate around each other without affecting the distance between their heads.”