Wizard Synchronizes Metronomes


(Video Link)


The mage has five metronomes moving at the same speed, but not synchronized because he started them at different times. Then he places them on a rolling surface. Within a few seconds, they sync up. How? redditor Rangourthaman_ offers an explanation, which you can read by clicking on "more..."
First let's see what forces there are on a lone metronome:

As the arm swings, it exerts an equal force pushing the casing to the opposite side. It does this with every swing so the metronome itself is constantly trying to go from left to right. Comparable to doing this

So if the metronome is placed on a plank and two cans it will exert force on the plank and move it from left to right.

If we add another metronome, it too,will exert its force on the plank. If it is in sync with the other metronome (Both going left & right at the some time) the force it is exerting on the plank (and thus; the other metronome) will match up as well. (comparable to this)

If the other metronome is in sync but going right when the other is going left they will cancel each other out and reduce the net force on the plank to zero.

When the two are not in sync there can be two possible situations:

One: The two arms are moving in the same direction

Two: The arms are moving in opposite directions.

So what basicaly happens is whenever the arms are not moving in the same direction they are reducing the net energy on the plank to zero thus slowing the plank down. (Because it has friction from the cans.)

When they are moving in the same direction both their energy is transferred to the plank in full, thus giving it more speed and momentum. This momentum is transferred to the first arm that starts to swing back again, giving it the bulk of the energy in the plank and slowing the arm down in the processs. This makes the gap in time between their sync smaller. It does this with every tick, eventually syncing the two up.

Add more metronomes and the same things happens, exept with more indivdual forces, making the proces go smoother.

TLDR: They are forced to the path of least resistance.


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Most of the pictures look about the same to me as if someone removed books or cameras from people's hands. But maybe that isn't what was intended, as people think very differently of a book and a smart phone. A family reading together would also be disconnected, but people would probably pick more positive descriptions for such an image.
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Agreed. Remove any other external stimuli from the photo and you have a similar image. My daughter has her nose buried in her Kindle, would we think twice if it was an actual book?
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Good points, PlasmaGryphon and ursusblue. You too, THAT Alan. They were actually looking at porn but I was embarrassed to admit it, so I made up that story about the artsy stuff.
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As further evidence in favor of the going theory that they could be looking at anything, today's article on Neatorama entitled: "Cool Vintage Photos of People Reading".

Remove the books and such and it's exactly the same as this article's images, only from a different age when our tech didn't exist. You can clearly see that the behavior of gathering in groups and ignoring each other to read stuff is exactly the same as it was back then.

People complain about these things without realizing that the same things have happened before with less tech and no serious detriment to the human race then, either.
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