Interlocked open and closed linkages with few joints. (Q1395574)

Consider a simple polygonal chain (either an open polygonal arc or a closed polygon) embedded in 3-space. A \textit{motion} of the chain is a motion of the vertices of the chain in 3-space that preserves the length of the polygonal edges throughout the motion, and never causes the polygonal edges to cross each other. We say that two such chains are \textit{interlocked} if they can not be separated by a motion. In this article the authors study the interlocking of small chains. In particular, if an \(n\)-chain is a chain with \(n\) segments, they show that a triangle and an open 4-chain can interlock, a quadrilateral and an open 3-chain can interlock, but a triangle and an open 3-chain can not interlock.