
A lariat chain at the Museu de la Ciencia (science museum), in Barcelona, Spain.
A Lariat chain is a loop of chain that hangs off, and is spun by a wheel. It is often used as a science exhibit or a toy.
The original Lariat Chain was created in 1986 by Norman Tuck, as an Artist-in-Residence project[1] at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
Lariat Chain was developed from an earlier Tuck piece entitled Chain Reaction (1984). Chain Reaction was hand cranked, and utilized a heavy chain attached by magnets onto an iron flywheel. As in Lariat Chain, Chain Reaction used a brush to disrupt the motion of the traveling chain.
The speed of the chain is arranged to equal the wave speed of transverse waves,[2] so that waves moving against the motion of the chain appear to be standing still.[3][4]
See also
- Belt (mechanical)
 - Foucault pendulum
 - Launch loop has similar potential instabilities
 
References
- ↑ "Exhibit Cross Reference - Lariat Chain". Exploratorium.edu. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
 - ↑ "Transverse and Longitudinal Waves". hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
 - ↑ Exploratorium Archived 2008-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
 - ↑ normantuck.com
 
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lariat chains.
- Coilgun info: Lariat Chain Introduction
 - Kinetic Chain sculpture built from a bicycle
 - Instructables how-to
 - Simulation of a Lariat chain
 
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