December 09, 2007

The Gomboc is a convex three-dimensional homogeneous object with gently peaked, organic curves. It looks like a piece of modern art. But if you tip it over, something unusual happens: it rights itself. It doesn't have a hidden counterweight inside that helps it perform this trick, oh no no no: it is the world's first self-righting artificial object.
posted by Hank Mabuse 16 years ago
  • Is there a video in one of those links? I did not see one. It sounds like it would be rather cool to observe.
  • Watching it roll around is fun if you've had lots of hydrocodone. It's pretty, too. I would say it's self-righteous!
  • Holy croley! Is there some way to translate this into shoes I can't fall down in?
  • it is the world's first self-righting artificial object Not quite... Weebles have been around for quite a while before the Gömböc (they wobble but they don't fall down, you know). The Gömböc's claim to fame is that it is convex (unlike, say, a thumbtack) and homogeneous, that is, it has the same density everywhere inside it, unlike a Weeble, which is denser on the bottom end.
  • Dr. Gabor Domokos ... and his colleague Dr. Peter Varkonyi ... tested turtles and found that some species of turtle had exploited this shape to right themselves, when turned upside-down by predators or in turtle fights.
    Turtle fights!
  • Weebles = counterweight
  • For some reason I feel comforted by this.
  • Is there a video? A kis gömböc.
  • Very interesting links, HB. Reminds me of the first time we saw a self-righting mechanism during a battle on Robot Wars (Cassius) /engineer
  • I thought tortoises/turtles* were notoriously not self-righting. *Transatlantic terminology differences apply
  • That's what Bender thought, too.
  • There is a children's magic trick called the Imp Bottle. Essentially, it's a small vase that won't lay down on its side (except for the magician, of course). It's really a self-righting object that's been around for at least a hundred years. Professional ethics forbid me from revealing more- just trust me; I'm a magician (amateur) so you know you can trust me and I would never lie to you.
  • Yeah, the Imp holds on to rope that you stick in there as well.
  • "...it's belly baking in the hot sun, trying to turn itself over but it can't! Not without your help. But you're not helping." "Whaddya mean I'm not helping?" "I mean you're not helping. Why is that, Leon?"
  • Ask him about his mother.
  • I so meant to post that quote, but forgot. Furkin toitles.
  • furkin UT3
  • What was that bag-of-entrails in the animation supposed to be? Some kind of sausage?
  • What was that bag-of-entrails "In past times, poor families would buy a pig and use up the more desirable parts to make things like ham and sausage. What was left of the pig, usually the fatty parts, was hung up in the attic, and they would fry the fat when they could afford more meat. The part that was hung in the attic was called the “kis gömböc.”" - from here.
  • Great title for a game show. "What Was that Bag of Entrails" I suppose for more pop appeal it could be "Bag'o'Entrails" Maybe, "What's the Offal?"
  • This has led to some interesting stuff, thanks flagpole. On this site I came across this: "Pork was not desiccated in peasant households, but preserved with salting and smoking. After the feast that followed pig-killing, the meat was kept in brine for several weeks, then dried, and hung in the smoky attic or the upper part of the open chimney, more recently in a separate building built especially for this purpose. Here the smoke slowly penetrated the meat so it could be kept safely in the attic or in a cool pantry till the main work periods of the summer and sometimes until new fresh meat became available." /derail