Newton's Delayed Cradle looks the same and works on exactly the same principle as that of the familiar desk top toy. The main difference is that it has some control knobs on the front.

These knobs allow the timing, strength and direction of force of some electro-magnets concealed inside the balls to be controlled. This means that even a slight impact from the initial ball can be made to cause the end one to make a substantial leap and swing, this effect coming after a variable time delay.

Other effects are possible, including a fully automated mode, where the balls require no human intervention to cause them to swing backwards and forwards, their momentum being amplified and quelled by alternating attracting and repelling magnetic forces.
-- xenzag, Jan 25 2013

Procrastinewton's cradle!
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 25 2013


this is so brilliant that i am going to bake the shit out of it. We are currently testing electromagnets for our new rail gun so we can build this at the same time. Thanks for the inspiration. [+]
-- Brian the Painter, Jan 26 2013


correction, we are not building a rail gun, we are building a coil gun (but rail gun sounds cooler)
-- Brian the Painter, Jan 26 2013


//this is so brilliant that i am going to bake the shit out of it// Good luck with that.... It's not a half baked idea for no good reason :-)
-- xenzag, Jan 26 2013



random, halfbakery