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Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 6:13 pm
by Wim
I actually managed to get 16 balls suspended since I was able to add an extra bar to both sides using Supermag. I want to try this with Geomag too. My coworker took a picture with his phone...

Since you're so strict on the no touching clause, I'll see if I can widen the construction a little sometime later.

Supermag Suspended Balls.jpg
Suspended ball challenge (Supermag)

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:40 pm
by Tychi
Now is it better? 15 suspended balls(o:
Image

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:22 pm
by El Mundo
Well done Tychi, nice work! Do you think 16 is possible?

So far, I've made the legs of my solution, but it's not clear from this pic how it works yet...
moto_0117.jpg

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:07 am
by karlhorton
Tychi, great solution!

I assume that your suspension points are of "power" 6, and I think that without more
sophisticated engineering that represents an upper limit.

It's well-known that the maximum number of rods that can be in contact with a ball is 14.
(look for a future challenge from me about this) And I believe that more than six north poles
attached to a single ball are not stable.

In principle the way to overcome this limit is to build a very large structure and use the
very weight of the rods to compress one of the lower joints so strongly that more than
six north poles can come together: I've certainly seen heavy models distort the plastic
covering on Geomag rods.

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:32 am
by Tychi
karl, I also tested "power" 7, but more than 15 suspended balls did not hold.

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:42 pm
by El Mundo
Seems like you've all got this one pretty much licked. Well done to you, I hope you found it as thought-provoking as I did. For the record, here's my solution...

buckaroo1.jpg


It's a bit tricky to photograph this one, but here's the best shot of the dangly balls :?

buckaroo2.jpg


As with most Geomag creations (especially if you don't have a clear idea of what you're aiming for), this started off as...well, nothing really! The same is true for the Lobster and the StellaFinder3000 (a luminous beer bottle holder, useful in some circumstances anyway!) - some other Geomag creations of mine. You may have guessed by now that the naming ceremony is almost as important as the creation with me.

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:32 pm
by Peter Jepsen
Really nice all of you. I thought I had the dark horse idea that would beat them all, but after a brief building session it was back to the lab for me..

And.. Knowing the nature of the Internet, I'm convinced that the sentence between the two photos in El mundo's last post will pop up unintentionally in many a Google search.. ;) By the love of all that is magnetic, it's called "HANGING SPHERES" :D

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:30 pm
by jgnorman
hmmm, I must give this a shot after my exams are over. So was the final rod count allowed 96, or 144?

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:59 pm
by El Mundo
It was 144, but it is achievable in much less.

Good luck in your exams btw

Re: C051109 - Suspended balls

PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:02 am
by Fat_Twerp
This is niiiice, different to the usual stuff you can do with the geomag

I think you may have created a new genre :)