This thing's lethal.
If you arrange the plates in a "V" it's possible to get all the balls to
stop, and fall to the bottom of the "V". At that point they form a
"condensate" (at least sometimes).
If you bring one of the attractors near the "condensed" balls they'll
all move as a single ball (and leave a darker trail as they move).
I wonder if this actually models _anything_ physical?
Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Terry Blanton wrote:
Great fun if you're not too busy.
http://www.thecleverest.com/content/attractors.html
You can move and tilt the plates and achieve almost perpetual motion.
No "almost" about it.
The system doesn't conserve energy. The collisions with the plates are
obviously inelastic but the balls don't stop if they're in the presence
of the "attractors"; they're apparently getting a "kick" from something
in the course of orbiting.
See attached; it's still going on my desktop, and the balls never escape
to get dropped again. But they also don't slow down or stop, despite
bouncing on the bottom plate from time to time.
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