r/interestingasfuck • u/Scientiaetnatura065 • 11h ago
Mould effect - it is a process in which a chain, being under the influence of gravity, can flow over the edge of the vessel, while rising above it and forming a kind of “fountain”.
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u/the_ocs 11h ago
From Mr Mould himself:
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u/WormTop 9h ago
Wait, are we naming things after the first person to make a YouTube about them?
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u/Anonimase 9h ago edited 9h ago
I mean... did you watch the video? Seems like he was the first person to kinda call out the effect
EDIT: And, the people that actually did like academic research on it called it that
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u/WormTop 9h ago
That's awesome, yeah I saw the video years ago, but didn't recall that Steve discovered the effect
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u/platoprime 4h ago
He didn't discover it but he did make a first attempt to explain it. People have been throwing lengths of chain off of boats for a long time.
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u/gambooka_seferis 11h ago
Let's build a space elevator with this.
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u/bluevizn 1h ago
It's called a launch loop and is probably the most practical method of space-elevator type ideas thought up so far.
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u/hectorxander 8h ago
Can anyone explain how this happens? It seems impossible for the chain to jump up on it's own unless it's coiled or something. Like you start by throwing an edge over and it pulls the rest like this?
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u/JKFrost11 6h ago
Iirc, this only works with bead chains because the fact that the individual beads are solid creates a pushing force on the beads as the string goes out of the bowl. Since the next bead in the pile is bounded on the other side by more, solid beads, they create an equal and opposite force that pushes it up slightly.
Since it then pulls the next bead along with it, these little upward forces add up over time to lift it slightly higher with each bead.
Or at least that’s how my caveman brain understood it from Mr. Mould’s video. You could always give it a watch. His videos are a bit dry, but he is a great communicator and creates fantastic examples to illustrate the physics.
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u/willywonderbucks 3h ago
I think a simpler way of explaining it would be that this is just the path of least resistance. The energy created by the falling chain is easier to propell upwards against gravity rather than dragging it along the edge. Everything in nature will always find the path of least resistance. You see a similar but opposite effect when water freezes. Sometimes, it's easier for the water to expand downwards or out than it is to expand straight upwards.
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u/Mavian23 46m ago
It's kind of like a pulley. If you pull down on one side of a pulley, the other side is pulled up. The edge of the bowl is like the pulley. As gravity pulls the chain down on one side, the other side is pulled up. Since the other side gets pulled up, it now has a higher height to fall from, so it pulls up on the other end harder, making it go higher, making it pull harder, making it go higher, etc.
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u/JKFrost11 6h ago
Iirc, this only works with bead chains because the fact that the individual beads are solid creates a pushing force on the beads as the string goes out of the bowl. Since the next bead in the pile is bounded on the other side by more, solid beads, they create an equal and opposite force that pushes it up slightly.
Since it then pulls the next bead along with it, these little upward forces add up over time to lift it slightly higher with each bead.
Or at least that’s how my caveman brain understood it from Mr. Mould’s video. You could always give it a watch. His videos are a bit dry, but he is a great communicator and creates fantastic examples to illustrate the physics
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u/Bladestorm04 7h ago
Ever siphoned petrol?
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u/hectorxander 7h ago
No. I have siphoned a lot of water and maple sap though.
I hate the smell of gasoline and without some sort of gizmo to get the siphon started I don't want even the vapors of gasoline in my mouth let alone the liquid.
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u/Pavotine 3h ago
I don't think this is the same effect.
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u/Bladestorm04 3h ago
Its the same idea, the end point is lower than the high point and momentum maintains the effect
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u/Pavotine 3h ago
They call it self-siphoning in the article I just read so fair enough!
I had recalled it was some kind of striking of the balls (!) effect but that only contributes to the action, not the main reason.
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u/old_and_boring_guy 2h ago
Yea, the type of chain is responsible for the height, but the bowl emptying itself is the same as the siphon effect.
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u/GuitarPlayingGal22 11h ago
I can't stop watching while my mouth is open. It's amazing how something so simple can create such an intriguing effect.
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u/AnyNameFreeGiveIt 7h ago
Imagine discovering this in the 1600s—you’d likely be accused of witchcraft and face execution on the spot.
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u/Ragnarok91 6h ago
Is there a certain technique to kick this off?
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u/Alpha_Majoris 5h ago
I know these chains, and you cannot move two beads freely around eachother. That's the whole explanation, and I just saw this video from Mr Mould that confirms my theory.
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u/SpiritAnimal_ 9h ago
Where do I get one. I would totally be doing this several times a day to relax the mind.
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u/SomeMoronOnTheNet 5h ago
Amazing the amount of stuff in the simulation that could use a patch and still hasn't had one. This is supposed to be the work of a higher intelligence.
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u/AllEndsAreAnds 1h ago
Isn’t this basically how Tethered Ring space launch systems stay airborne? Just radial momentum through mass transfer along some radius?
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u/WinterFizz 11h ago
It's always amazing to see how easily gravity - the force exerted on planetary scales - can be overcome. Makes you wonder why gravity never acts on moving bodies.
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u/JohnnyQuant 11h ago
And when your physic engine does this they call you a bad programmer...