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Snow Day: Unusual Tracks (Patreon)

Published:
2018-03-05 01:02:25
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Well, the snowy world is full of interesting things to think about, and I thought I'd shoot a behind-the-scenes or dogwalk video just for you. And then as I was doing that I thought why not put a little more effort in and make it public on my main channel?

So, that happened.

Ok now let's talk about wobblers. There's some great ones at the Museum of Mathematics in NY (if they still have that exhibit on the floor) made out of solids of revolution with a twist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_z04poueUA 

The cool thing about them is that some of the wobbly paths actually roll against gravity in sections!

The wobbly roller in the video is a Rolling Trefoil by Henry Segerman (who you may remember from last video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVjcDBBrn-A (available on shapeways!)

Also of wobbly interest are Rattlebacks, which if you haven't heard of you must see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11NHjiEYnI0

So yep, I cheated and worked through the weekend but it wasn't on the Pi Day video so it doesn't count, right? And gotta get the snow while its fresh!

Thank you for inspiring me to make a fun little video about snow and tracks and wobbly things and icicles :D

Vi Hart

Files

Snow Day: Unusual Tracks

I found some thinkable things! Rolling Trefoil by Henry Segerman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVjcDBBrn-A Very cool wobbly rolling objects at the Museum of Mathematics in NY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_z04poueUA Rattlebacks are also on my list of cool mathematical wobblers, though less rolly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11NHjiEYnI0 This video exists through support on Patreon! Special thank you to Caleb Wright, Albert Wenger, Pat Devlin, Jack Heidrick, David Perryman, Jeremy Buchanan, Chris Pierik, Wish Society, Carol Hart, Andrea Di Biagio, Charley Sheets, Jodi Vezzetti, Andrew Romaner, Michael Tiemann, and Yana Chernobilsky. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/vihart http://vihart.com

Comments

Matt Cengia

Yay! "I'll still be here when you get back. Well, actually I'm gonna go eat a snack now. And shovel, but you know what I mean. OK bye." I just... love your communication style, Vi! <3

Richard Kusaba

Coincidentally, I went snowshoeing yesterday and posted some animal tracks this morning. Your walk had pine trees; mine was sagebrush. You pretty much knew your tracks; mine (particularly the smallish cat-

Thisfox

Very exciting. I am envious. Not envious enough to move to a place where there is snow all the time, but next time I go overseas I will consider looking in this way. I tend to be more busy with calculating angle of repose of different sand types... and looking at bird tracks and crab tracks down on the wet sand. Thankyou for showing me something I would never have seen in my own environment.

Randal Moore

Well my comment vanished somehow, but let me tell you it was very supportive of you, Vi. Thanks for not blowing my mind every once in a while.

Rajat Tibrewal

There is such a bucket load to observe if you choose to just LOOK! Thanks for the inspiration Vi :)

Kenny Tilton

Help. Why would a wobbler ever stop rolling? It would have to be perfectly balanced on the two points of contact. Tiny little flat spots? Meanwhile, thanks for taking us for a walk in those magnificent trees.

Kenny Tilton

Ah, ok, if it finds a low spot it would require energy to move since any direction would be uphill. Damn. There goes our perpetual motion patent.

vihart

Also friction! And there's also lots of interesting mathematics to how to get the center of gravity of things to stay constant, because if the center of gravity is wobbling up and down that'll cause it to slow and eventually settle into its settled position (when it no longer has enough momentum to "roll uphill" to an unstable orientation). There's lots of good questions involved with super-wobbly wobblers :D