accordion effect
concertina effect

The figure moved away; it spread with an accordion effect.

He planted both feet and once again created an accordion effect on a tablecloth.

Mail aggressively collapses quoted text within messages, displaying an adorable accordion effect upon expansion.

The accordion effect is known by various aliases such as the 'slinky effect' or the 'Concertina effect', and the string instability.

Many of the cars crushed together in an accordion effect, with one passenger coach resting on its side on top of one of the engines.

In non-linear physics, the accordion effect occurs when fluctuations in the motion of a travelling body causes disruptions in the flow of elements following it.

The size of the CP effect is merely a scaling factor; it is this compression/separation "accordion effect," that is CP's distinctive feature.

More precise, the accordion effect in road traffic refers to the typical decelerations and accelerations of a vehicle when the vehicle in front of him decelerates and accelerates.

"Upon impact its front end collided with a very large boulder, creating a sort of accordion effect and compressing the front end of the bus and instantly killing the driver and ejecting several of the girls from the bus."

The cars from fourth row onwards (Peterson started from the third) were rolling when the green light came on and got a jump on those ahead, resulting in an accordion effect as the cars approached the chicane, bunching them tightly together.

The Department of Transportation, which awarded the contract, estimates automated lanes can handle at least twice as many vehicles as lanes with drivers driving; automatic control eliminates constant speeding up and slowing down, weaving in and out, the accordion effect, accidents and rubber-necking.

Of particular interest to scientists, the mutation that causes the disease is one they have lately seen in genes that cause other illnesses, a sort of molecular accordion effect in which a tiny segment of the gene is abnormally expanded and repeated over and over.