Uploaded September 2013 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Mathnetism asked me if it is possible to keep adding bigger units to the spiral.
This turns out to be a tough question to answer. I managed to add another 4 units, obtaining a build with over 9000 magnets. At this point gravity becomes a serious problem. Adding even more units seems possible, but for doing so one needs to lift the entire build which is really hard as the build is both heavy and easy to damage. Assuming one day someone will bring a million magnets into space, is seems that person should in theory be able to make the build much larger. However, another problem is that the 2 layer flaps of the units sticking out touch units of 4 sizes smaller and larger. This causes poor alignment that becomes really hard to fix quickly as units get larger.
From a mathematical point of view, it is necessary to prove that for the inner or core spiral, the core distances between units differing 4 sizes remain the same or become larger as the spiral expands. It is too close to call to decide this from just observing the build physically. Proving this is not easy at all, some advanced trigonometry is required due to the angles involved. The core spiral of the build follows a 3D zigzag system that, when flattened, is about the same as the simplified spiral shown at the end of the video.
For the amount of magnets used in the build: the 12 units are made with 9030 magnets, however some fortification was needed to support the weight, for which I used about 400 additional magnets.
Mathnetism asked me if it is possible to keep adding bigger units to the spiral.
This turns out to be a tough question to answer. I managed to add another 4 units, obtaining a build with over 9000 magnets. At this point gravity becomes a serious problem. Adding even more units seems possible, but for doing so one needs to lift the entire build which is really hard as the build is both heavy and easy to damage. Assuming one day someone will bring a million magnets into space, is seems that person should in theory be able to make the build much larger. However, another problem is that the 2 layer flaps of the units sticking out touch units of 4 sizes smaller and larger. This causes poor alignment that becomes really hard to fix quickly as units get larger.
From a mathematical point of view, it is necessary to prove that for the inner or core spiral, the core distances between units differing 4 sizes remain the same or become larger as the spiral expands. It is too close to call to decide this from just observing the build physically. Proving this is not easy at all, some advanced trigonometry is required due to the angles involved. The core spiral of the build follows a 3D zigzag system that, when flattened, is about the same as the simplified spiral shown at the end of the video.
For the amount of magnets used in the build: the 12 units are made with 9030 magnets, however some fortification was needed to support the weight, for which I used about 400 additional magnets.
