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OtterApocalypse t1_ixt1yoy wrote

Reply to comment by Alex_Sisyphus in I made a scientific drawing of a apple tree in sand by Alex_Sisyphus

I've been thinking about one of those tables. I have a weird question. In the videos and descriptions I've read, everything says that the ball is rolling across/through the sand. And I can't tell if that's really true or not from any of the videos.

So, is the ball actually rolling? Or is it just being dragged through the sand without doing any rotation of its own? Can you tell the difference when watching it draw?

I suppose I was just wondering if one side of the ball ends up showing appreciable wear from the friction over time if it's being dragged, or if you're supposed to manually change the ball's Y-axis every now and again (flip it or anything). Not that that would be a big deal, of course.

Just curious about your experience with that.

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Alex_Sisyphus OP t1_iy3sby1 wrote

Interesting question! I've always thought it was doing a rotation, but upon a closer look at my own table, it looks like it's more of a drag. It's hard to tell haha! I really had to look. My marble doesn't have any wear from the constant abuse I put it through when testing my artwork or just having it play my many playlists.

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OtterApocalypse t1_iy43u0t wrote

Yeah, I assumed it was more of a drag thing, since I can't really conceptualize the physics required to make it actually rotate/roll.

Though to be fair, there's a shitload of physics that are way beyond my grasp, hence my question.

Personally, I think I'd stick a little googly eye on top of it for a bit just to see what happens. And to amuse myself a bit.

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