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Suns. Stars. Planets. Black holes. Pool balls.
POOL BALLS!?!?
Yes, pool balls.
This is a game of pool with simulated orbital mechanics.
Every ball is made entirely of iron, covered by a slight layer of Teflon. The cue ball is orangy fire, representing the sun. The other balls are
painted different colors to represent various planets. The 8 ball is the Earth, painted with blue and green swirls.
The pockets are black holes, with powerful electromagnets inside, to simulate gravity. They are strong so as to affect the path of the ball, but not strong enough to pull the ball in by itself.
Also, in the center of every quadrant of the pool table is an orange fiery sphere fixed in it's spot, to represent other suns/stars. These are also electromagnets, except much more powerful than the "black holes".
You start with the "gravity" off, then you turn it on after the break. Play with normal rules afterwards.
Parabolic Pool Table
http://www.halfbake...olic_20Pool_20Table
Created after, but seperatley, from this idea. [DesertFox, Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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Seems like it would be a bit easier than regular pool. |
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I'd switch from magnets to gravity, otherwise your objects won't interact correctly. Use a taut sheet of rubber, and have correctly scaled weights for each object. For stars and black holes you might as well just tack the rubber down to a lower level. |
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It seems like friction would ruin this game whether you use gravity or magnets. Without momentum, the planets will just fall toward the nearest gravity well. This also brings up the issue of difficulty in hitting a teflon-coated ball while in motion. |
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Perhaps this idea would work better as a small moon made only of water and a sphered-in atmosphere? |
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I've added that the pocket's magnets aren't that strong. |
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I think that if you simply made a novelty pool ball set out of the existing planets and bought a length of black billiard cloth, you would have a winner of an idea, and an awesome game of 9-Ball. |
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Rather than magnets (whose effects are
invisible until the ball comes near) I
would choose a sculpted table that has
dips where there are gravitational
objects, that way you can "see" the
gravitational influences. You might be
able to make it with a rubber sheet
stretched horizontally with weights
hanging where the planets are. |
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macrumpton, gravity IS invisible. The magnets simulate gravity. To simulate it better, it should be invisible. |
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I hate to talk for [macrumpton], but I believe the issue was that the effect of the magnet was negligable until your 'planet' came near your 'black hole', as in magnets have a rapid increase in strength the closer you get. |
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I believe it would be a stellar (lol pun lol) game if you could subdue the effects of the balls on each other, having a greater effect over longer distances (more than a foot away you could still see the curve of a ball towards a pocket or other balls), and not such dramatic forces when the balls are close to each other (ever put your finger between two strong magnets when they snap together? it hurts, trust me). The idea of using gravity, hence the albeit visible but also more, um, relaxed factor of the ball weighing down the surface of the table and making a 'dip', is closer to what you'd need for a fun game. |
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But, in the end, if it was accurate enough to be fun, wouldn't the balls just never stop moving once set in motion? I know our solar system isn't going to. |
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Would the planets have the same relative size as in real life? At least relative mass (and the stretched rubber (even though that's no better than the magnets for simulating the gravity, it'll give the plants their own gravity)), please. |
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Also, can we play with different solar systems? |
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Covering the balls in teflon would probably ruin the game-- the only way this would work is if the force due to any of the magnets (balls/planets or holes) is less then the force of static friction, but greater than the force of kinetic friction. Only then would the magnets not have any effect on the balls unless they were moving. |
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This is funny. The idea was lost but the annos weren't |
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