Which ramp is faster?

[StevOz]

Came across this YouTube clip and found it rather interesting physics.

 

[Marcio Clauss]

Man, I thought the wavy ramp was going to get slower, but it was the other way around I thought it was amazing

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Funny, I just saw that same video the other day as part of my YT feed. I guess this is an example of velocity scaling on a curve, eh?

Would be pretty cool to design one of these toys such that the troughs were even deeper, yet the ball still barely managed to beat the ball on the straight incline.

I think this thread should be in the Outlane er, Playfield, btw.

 

[StevOz]

Funny, I just saw that same video the other day as part of my YT feed. I guess this is an example of velocity scaling on a curve, eh?

Would be pretty cool to design one of these toys such that the troughs were even deeper, yet the ball still barely managed to beat the ball on the straight incline.

I think this thread should be in the Outlane er, Playfield, btw.

I'll bet deeper troughs will actually accelerate the ball more, it's the initial acceleration magnified by the concurring acceleration in each trough that wins the race.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I'll bet deeper troughs will actually accelerate the ball more, it's the initial acceleration magnified by the concurring acceleration in each trough that wins the race.

Maybe!

For example, if the troughs were now a foot deep, meaning the ball would have to travel ~11" inches upwards each time in order to reach the mean slope, would the ball still 'win?'

Would the ball still win if the troughs were now 50' feet deep? 100? I'm not so sure the acceleration gained each time would overcome the work of travelling almost the same distance back upwards. Edit: Also, friction might be more of an issue with the lengthening of the troughs.

Would make for a fun little VP project, perhaps.

 

[fastdraw]

?? il est évident que la bille au premier plan soit plus rapide ; car elle subit une plus forte accélération du aux pentes successives beaucoup plus abruptes.
alors que la bille d'arrière plan a une accélération plus linéaire.

 

[GeorgeH]

Man, I thought the wavy ramp was going to get slower, but it was the other way around I thought it was amazing

I thought the same think.

 

[AnonTet]

C'mon, the ramps are both static. It's the ball that gets moving.

I'll show myself out now...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

So I was browsing reddit and ran in to this clip from a VSauce video: (about 4:40 in)

View attachment VSauce clip.mp4

This seemed to shed some light on the discussions above. For example, evidently there's a sweet spot between 'no curve at all' versus 'too much curve.' The 'sweet spot' produces the fastest ball.

Interestingly, the shape of the curve seems to be more important than whether the curve dips below table level so to speak. According to the WP article, these curves are called "cycloids."



I still barely understand this stuff, of course.

 

[StevOz]

How about this ramp?

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Steve I can't believe you actually posted back in this thread!

Yesterday, during a catnap, I imagined this same thread, and us talking more about this shizzle. Seriously... I find it hard to believe myself.

If only my surname was "Newton," and not some brand of foolishness like "Sauvage." :/

Nostradumbass, perhaps..

 

[StevOz]

My theory is maybe that top rail is magnetic, even so not sure that should actually work "forever"? Maybe it's orientation is north south and uses the Earth's magnetic field?

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

My theory is maybe that top rail is magnetic, even so not sure that should actually work "forever"? Maybe it's orientation is north south and uses the Earth's magnetic field?

Even if magnetics (charged-up electron fields) are involved, it will slow down over repetition, right?

Doesn't detract from the badassery, tho.

 

[StevOz]

Even if magnetics (charged-up electron fields) are involved, it will slow down over repetition, right?

Depends on your timescale, the Earths' rotation is slowing...

Breakdown: Why Earth’s rotation is slowing down & its impacts

Ever since its formation around 4.5 billion years ago (Neoproterozoic days), Earth’s rotation has been gradually slowing down. It’s a process that continues to this day, and estimates suggest that the length of a day currently increases by about 1.8 milliseconds every century. But why is the...

www.actionnews5.com

We're well past the "boring billion years" and more oxygen, maybe everything is going to burn.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

The Earth is also outgassing over time, slowly but relentlessly losing the precious mix of GH gasses that led to life's formation in the first place. (unless you believe in a magical, invisible sky-god, I guess)

So basically, we have ~500 thousand million years left of viable life on Earth, before it's time to retire.
Let's make the most of it, yeah?

EDIT: Pretty sure it's millions, actually!

 

[StevOz]

I still think it's being powered by magnetics. As you should well know, gravity is a weak force, it would not take a great deal of magnetic force to overcome the gravitational force.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

It was just a corollary to what you were saying, previously.

At any rate, if you *do* manage to invent a perpetual-motion machine, then that could definitely cut down on the server bills, right?

 

[xenonph]

I do believe the Earth was spinning faster back in the old bible days.
I think that is why Moses and many others lived to be 100's of years old back then.

Also, if the Earth was slowly moving towards the Sun, would they tell you?
Hell no they wouldn't tell you.
They would make up some global warming bull crap, and act like it can be fixed by changing peoples lifestyle.
Or holler climate change with every new storm that shows up!!
But the climate has been changing since the dawn of time.
The Sahara desert used to be a jungle.
Did man cause this climate change back then?
Highly doubtful.
It is a natural process that nobody has control over.

Relax and enjoy the ride.

What started melting the ice at the end of the Ice Age?
Was it humans pumping out greenhouse gasses?? or leaving their carbon footprint?
Or was the Earth getting closer to the Sun?

Even Spock would say this is logical. lol
Carry on.

 

[StevOz]

Moses come on he is about as credible as the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Also, if the Earth was slowly moving towards the Sun, would they tell you?

Would who tell you?

The scientific body? You bet your bippy they would.

But IIRC you're correct about the Earth's spin slowing down over time, even as it cools and outgasses. The moon is also slowly receding. Just normal nature stuff.

Btw, did you know that science discovered back in the 1800's that sending a bunch of carbon in to the atmosphere was a really efficient to artificially raise the climate? (see Svante Arrhenius)

Well, whadya know? Too few took that seriously, industry naturally opted for profit over prevention, and now the Earth's climate sets new records every year.

So amazingly, across little more than a century, we've managed to artificially raise atmospheric carbon levels to the highest they've been since... well, the numbers keep changing, but last time I checked, it was in to the millions of years, maybe as far back as the Jurassic or something.

Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

In the past 60 years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 100 times faster than it did during the end of the last ice age.

www.climate.gov

 

[StevOz]

No gravity or energy challenging gadgets this time, just a marvellous mini marble machine, might make a unique pinball gadget.

 

[RiderJake]

Came across this YouTube clip and found it rather interesting physics.

I never would have thought that was possible! I watched the video several times with amazement.

No gravity or energy challenging gadgets this time, just a marvellous mini marble machine, might make a unique pinball gadget.

And this site is also interesting - https://betpokies.co.nz

Until I saw the batteries, I already thought that some kind of perpetual motion machine :)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Yay, more free energy!

 

[StevOz]

Yay, more free energy!

Déjà vu

Which ramp is faster?

Came across this YouTube clip and found it rather interesting physics.

pinballnirvana.com

Though I wonder, imagine this little toy scaled up 100 times, would it still work and what a wondrous piece it would be!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Oh snap! Totally forgot about that one.
I also notice I'm routinely dropping words from sentences as I type. I rarely used to do that. Age is a helluva drug, huh?

Anyway, I learned today that there's not just one but *two* versions of this gimmick. In the one above, there's a battery in the upper disc that powers a little wheel inside the hole that shoots the ball down the wire ramp. (sounds like it's kinda noisy tho, breaking the illusion)

In the other model, you generally plug it in to USB or similar, and it powers an electromagnet inside the base that pulls the ball downward fast enough to loop back through the wire ramp.

I guess it would be pretty cool to make something like these gadgets, but solar-powered (etc), so that there was no man-made energy source that made them work. Something similar would be those tops that spin in the air (for real) due to opposite polarity between the top and the base.