How Domino Works
Domino is a game in which players place dominoes in careful sequence to knock over the last remaining ones. Larger sets of dominoes are used in competitions, where competitors try to build the most elaborate or imaginative domino effect or reaction before an audience. Creating a domino effect requires careful planning and attention to detail. It also helps to understand how the process works. For example, the speed at which a domino falls depends on how many pips it has. This is similar to the way a nerve impulse travels through the body, where the speed at which a neuron fires depends on how many neurons it is connected to and the distance between those neurons.
Whether you are using a small set of dominoes for a school project or a larger set in a public display, understanding how the process works will help you plan and construct your creation. Start by arranging a line of dominoes upright with one at the end of the middle row, and then begin placing the rest of them so that they extend from the first. Then, push the domino in the center of the middle row with your finger so that it topples the one on the left. Keep doing this with the other dominoes, varying the force that you use with each successive touch.
When you’re playing a game with more than one person, the heaviest domino in your hand determines the player who makes the first play. If the heaviest double is not present, the winner of the previous hand picks up a domino from the stock and begins to place it. If there is a tie, the tiles are drawn again to determine who starts. The winner of the draw decides whether to play a double or a single, depending on the rules for the particular game.
Lily Hevesh plans and prepares her domino installations by dividing fractions to help her estimate the number of pieces she needs for each section. She also uses this method to figure out how long a domino line should be and how they should be arranged. She tests each section of an installation and films it in slow motion to make sure that everything is working properly before putting the sections together. This allows her to correct small accidental topples before they become a big problem.
The power of a domino is so great that it can even knock down things one-and-a-half times its size. In a 1983 experiment, University of British Columbia physicist Lorne Whitehead set up 13 dominoes, from 5 millimeters tall to more than three feet tall. Each domino had 12 pips, and the largest was so heavy that it took 100 pounds of counterweights to keep it standing. Whitehead’s domino effect proved that a chain reaction could be initiated by a single piece. This is the same principle behind the domino effect in physics, and it’s why we can use dominoes to demonstrate how electricity and magnetic fields interact.