To a lot of people, dominoes just seem like they’re just for fun. Many of them don’t take time to think about how dominoes fall or topple. But two scientists are investigating how they work.
David Cantor a researcher at Polytechnique Montréal in Quebec, Canada, was interested in this problem. He has experience in house and buildings engineering. Cantor studied the blocks and said, “It’s a problem that is so natural. Everybody plays with dominoes.”
Games are more fun with a buddy, of course! For his domino study, Cantor chose a physicist named Kajetan Wojtacki. She is currently working at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, part of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
The team used a computer model to help them analyze dominoes falling. They discovered that it was caused by a chain reaction: each domino falling and pushing another one, and so on. It keeps repeating until there are no dominoes left over.
Have you ever wondered why sometimes dominoes fall quickly, and sometimes slower? The root cause is friction. Friction is the resistance of motion when an object is rubbed against another object. The friction happens in two places: the dominoes rub each other as they collide and they slide on the surface on which they rest.
The computer model helped solve the problem. It showed how to get the best quick-falling domino chain. The chain should be on a rough surface, which has a lot of friction. The dominos, however, should be slippery, which causes smaller friction than the rough surface.
In some computer model test results, the chain stopped quickly. They spread so far on the slippery surface that they couldn’t reach each other. There’s some serious science behind the game!
Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658072133548x532345641378538560/When%20dominoes%20fall%2C%20how%20fast%20the%20row%20topples%20depends%20on%20friction%20_%20Science%20News%20for%20Students.pdf
David Cantor a researcher at Polytechnique Montréal in Quebec, Canada, was interested in this problem. He has experience in house and buildings engineering. Cantor studied the blocks and said, “It’s a problem that is so natural. Everybody plays with dominoes.”
Games are more fun with a buddy, of course! For his domino study, Cantor chose a physicist named Kajetan Wojtacki. She is currently working at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, part of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
The team used a computer model to help them analyze dominoes falling. They discovered that it was caused by a chain reaction: each domino falling and pushing another one, and so on. It keeps repeating until there are no dominoes left over.
Have you ever wondered why sometimes dominoes fall quickly, and sometimes slower? The root cause is friction. Friction is the resistance of motion when an object is rubbed against another object. The friction happens in two places: the dominoes rub each other as they collide and they slide on the surface on which they rest.
The computer model helped solve the problem. It showed how to get the best quick-falling domino chain. The chain should be on a rough surface, which has a lot of friction. The dominos, however, should be slippery, which causes smaller friction than the rough surface.
In some computer model test results, the chain stopped quickly. They spread so far on the slippery surface that they couldn’t reach each other. There’s some serious science behind the game!
Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658072133548x532345641378538560/When%20dominoes%20fall%2C%20how%20fast%20the%20row%20topples%20depends%20on%20friction%20_%20Science%20News%20for%20Students.pdf
