Uploaded September 2009 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
One of my favorite exhibits at the mother of all science museums, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, is called the Lariat Chain as designed by Norman Tuck:
normantuck.com/catalogPages/lariat.html. Bizarre, unexpected wave patterns appear as users prod the kinetic sculpture.
In this quick test, the Bullet physics engine behind MoDynamics does a pretty amazing job of propagating the waves through a virtual chain.
In this example, I use a long chain, probably about 1/2 the length of the Tuck chain relative to the size of the spinning wheel. It works great, but the chain falls off about 3/4 through... I'm actually amazed it stayed on this long, because the chain swings wildly into z pretty early in the simulation. I'll put a track on the wheel for the next test. Please read more about the original exhibit at http://www.exploratorium.edu/xref/exhibits/lariat_chain.html
One of my favorite exhibits at the mother of all science museums, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, is called the Lariat Chain as designed by Norman Tuck:
normantuck.com/catalogPages/lariat.html. Bizarre, unexpected wave patterns appear as users prod the kinetic sculpture.
In this quick test, the Bullet physics engine behind MoDynamics does a pretty amazing job of propagating the waves through a virtual chain.
In this example, I use a long chain, probably about 1/2 the length of the Tuck chain relative to the size of the spinning wheel. It works great, but the chain falls off about 3/4 through... I'm actually amazed it stayed on this long, because the chain swings wildly into z pretty early in the simulation. I'll put a track on the wheel for the next test. Please read more about the original exhibit at http://www.exploratorium.edu/xref/exhibits/lariat_chain.html
