Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
McAfee Secure sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Chris Higgins
Dice Stacking
by Chris Higgins - October 17, 2007 - 9:12 AM

Today’s revelation: Dice Stacking. According to Wikipedia:

Dice stacking is a performance art, akin to juggling or sleight-of-hand, in which the performer scoops dice off of a flat surface with a dice cup and then sets the cup down to build a vertical column of dice. Various dice arrangements, colors of dice and scooping patterns allow for many degrees of complexity and difficulty.

Okay, what? Here’s a video from Thomas Fischbach demonstrating the art:

Am I correct in understanding that these are just regular cups (no internal structure holding the dice), and he’s using centrifugal force (and his index finger, sticking in the top of the cups) to do this? Any dice stacking experts in our readership who’d like to explain what’s going on here, please do!

(Via Kottke.org.)

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Comments (15)

  1. You aree correct in your understanding! The cups are regular, the dice are regular, and the stacker is pretty extraordinary. The index finger allows greater control of the cup, but it is merely resting atop it.

    What’s going on:
    1) The stacker “scoops” one die at a time, utilizing what you called the “centrifugal” force (but not really..) to keep the dice in the cup.
    2) The stacker then slides the cup across a table while the dice are still spinning near the top and then stops it short. The dice, of course, keep going and are pushed against the far side of the cup. Because of its roundness, the cup acts as a sort of funnel, pushing the dice closer together and stacking them atop one another.

    posted by Norm on 10-17-2007 at 10:04 am

  2. He always uses the same cup…. and dice…. I’d say…magnets

    posted by deb t on 10-17-2007 at 10:25 am

  3. There’s obviously some form of satanic magic taking place here.

    posted by Justin on 10-17-2007 at 12:41 pm

  4. Either it is some sort of hoax or this guy is in dire need of a life.

    On the other hand, if I could do this I would be grifting free drinks off all of my friends (and anyone else) at every bar on the planet.

    posted by Eric Blair on 10-17-2007 at 1:03 pm

  5. Ah, Justin was right, I forgot to mention steps -2, -1, 0, and 3.

    -2) Learn to fiddle.
    -1) Challenge the Devil. Be sure to win.
    0) Tell Be’elzebub you’ll let him keep his golden fiddle if he’ll give you mad dice stacking skillZ. Be sure to pronounce the capital “Z”.
    3) Profit!!!

    posted by Norm on 10-17-2007 at 1:10 pm

  6. I am just itching to point out… centrifugal force is not a real force. it is imaginary. i twitch when someone calls it centrifugal. it is centripetal.

    posted by C to the LJ on 10-17-2007 at 1:16 pm

  7. hey norm, i heard you liek mudkips?

    posted by steve on 10-17-2007 at 2:37 pm

  8. OMG I LIK LUV MUDKIPS!

    posted by Norm on 10-17-2007 at 3:14 pm

  9. Wow, this is the second time in two weeks I hear about centripetal force! Last week the TV show Big Bang Theory (about a bunch of geeky physicists–a bit stereotypical, really) used this type of force in the show. As a way to impress a girl, he put an olive on the table and said he could pick it up without touching it. He then put a glass that was on the table over the olive and began to spin it. The force acted on the olive and brought it to the top. He put his hand under the lip of the glass and when he stopped spinning it, the olive fell into his hand. The friend then said, “Oh centrifugal force”. To which he said, no, it’s actually centripetal. He went on to explain it. Unfortunately his explanation went over my head. This show usually has something in it every week about physics. I think if the cups that are used were clear, you would be able to see the effect better. But then again, the magic would be lost…

    posted by B.G. on 10-17-2007 at 4:58 pm

  10. Not that it matter much to how it is done. But, I think the cup is a type of speed stack cup.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0r-71zi–E

    posted by MidwestMedic on 10-17-2007 at 7:41 pm

  11. it is not a hoax or fake

    it’s real ! you can lear it too if you have the patience and the will ;)

    http://www.toddstrong.com/dicestacking.php

    posted by qureyoon on 10-17-2007 at 8:17 pm

  12. BOO video no longer available… i guess i missed the awesomeness.

    posted by TMo on 10-18-2007 at 8:45 am

  13. What? Nevermind… only works here, not on the main blog page, at least for me.

    posted by TMo on 10-18-2007 at 8:47 am

  14. WOW! Jesus hath cometh.

    posted by TMo on 10-18-2007 at 8:51 am

  15. C to the LJ ,
    A real or “reactive” centrifugal force occurs in reaction to a centripetal acceleration acting on a mass. This centrifugal force is equal in magnitude to the centripetal force, directed away from the center of rotation, and is exerted by the rotating object upon the object which imposes the centripetal acceleration in accordance with Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Although this sense was used by Isaac Newton,[1] it is only occasionally used in modern discussions.[2][3][4][5]
    A pseudo or “fictitious” centrifugal force appears when a rotating reference frame is used for analysis. The (true) frame acceleration is substituted by a (fictitious) centrifugal force that is exerted on all objects, and directed away from the axis of rotation.

    posted by Scott on 11-15-2007 at 4:57 pm

Comment

commenting policy