But I don't know much physics, so I'm sure there's more to it :-) Educate me?
a tangent is a line that is perpendicular a radial line of a circle. if you whirl a ball on a string around your head and let go the ball fly's off on a line tangent to the circular motion, as in your diagram.
Like kirbic said, if the geometry is right, you can time the movement of the circles on the lines so that they appear to be a spinning circle inside a larger one. actually if you plot points on rotating objects you get all sorts of interesting patterns and they move relative to their surrounding all the time.
... if you plot points on rotating objects you get all sorts of interesting patterns ...
Check out the old "toy" the SpiroGraph® for amazing examples ....
We still have two of the "Super Spirograph" sets in original boxes, with almost all of the original parts.
You are now a candidate for Antiques Roadshow ... though it's somewhat sad that the boxes are almost surely by far the more valuable (monetarily) component ...
I had a Spirograph set growing up. It was one of my most favorite toys for years and years... and years. It wasn't a "Super Spirograph" though, and the box was most certainly destroyed.
Me also. I loved the spirograph. Though I think I was older when it showed up... Or do they date back to the Neolithic?
1965 for that brand according to Wikipedia, but the concept/prototypes appear to go back to the 1800s ...
Yep, that seems about the right timing. I was six, and I remember seeing the ads and being enthralled. We got one as a Xmas gift, and I think my Dad got as much fun out of it as we did! He produced some beautiful stuff. We spent hours and hours with that thing.
A few years later my brother and I both got the "Super Spirograph" version, and that set us on anther round of creative madness. IMO one of the great toys of all time.
