Bizarre traveling flame discovery

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Excitable Mediums (Media?) are really interesting and you can make one with lighter fluid and a little trough!
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[@SteveMould]

I don't *think* it can be used to make a logic gates, otherwise you know I'd be trying to make a binary adder right now. The sponsor is Jane Street. Check out their opportunities bit.ly/3vpLNVW

[@SuviTuuliAllan]

Why'd you spell it 'traveling' with only one L? Strange.

[@DeconvertedMan]

So.. lighter fluid computer is possible...

[@0therun1t21]

Could the flame possibly carry or pull/ push a tiny bit of lighter fluid up the slant in the 8 shaped track?

[@Bobromil]

@@SuviTuuliAllan Why not? Both single and double l variants are commonly used and interchangeable.

[@0therun1t21]

​@@SuviTuuliAllanEnglish has so many exceptions to rules they can barely be called rules sometimes, good question.

[@Etx-z9]

Never thought I'd see an analogue loading-screen icon.

[@DN-theone]

Underrated comment!

[@SteveMould]

Damn, should have thought of that!

[@PotatoTechInd]

​@@DN-theone Bro you responded 2 minutes after they commented, it didn't have time to be rated let alone underrated lmao

[@QuantumHistorian]

@@PotatoTechInd I'll never understand why some people can't just say they like things, but have to implicit complain that other people aren't liking the things they like enough.

[@snlop3927]

@@PotatoTechInd Underrated observation!

[@bibekdebroy5158]

Every engineer in the room: "I'm definitely a responsible adult"

[@Secret_Moon]

Every kid in the room.

[@Pallamut]

Everyone with a 3d-printer:

[@BipTunia_Microtonal_Cats]

Then builds a 4-meter version in the basement. Results: singes eyebrows off.

[@guysumpthin2974]

Coriolis effect

[@philldavies7940]

I'm definitely a responsible engineer and an irresponsible adult, so I;m printing one this weekend to try different fluids, lighter fluid, meth's, acetone, surgical spirit and petrol.

[@jabrark5828]

I love how most science is just, "WOAH, how did that happen? Can we do it again?"

[@jwalster9412]

"You made something that looks like a. Snake from several chemicals? Lemme try that!'

[@fusionwing4208]

Exactly what makes science super fun to. The worst part is writing it all down, but the actual process of the experiment is so freaking fun (when your using proper safety of course)

[@jwalster9412]

@@fusionwing4208 fun fact: a lot for the "fun" modern experiments were probably don't over 100 years ago, by complete accident without proper safety..

[@fusionwing4208]

@jwalster9412 well yeah, but thats due to lack of safety standards and finding something entirely new and unknown. Nowadays safety is important even when finding something entirely new, but it doesnt take away from the fun of the experiment

[@monkeyboy275bobo8]

@@fusionwing4208 Its even more fun without safety. Until something goes wrong at least. Thats usually when things stop beeing funny.

[@lignesdefuite]

I work in healthcare in a field where medication-induced cardiac fibrillation is a constant risk to be managed (via QT prolongation), and use the stadium wave to explain torsades de pointes probably once a month. Your branched ring-exciter models are also literally how a special form of atrial fibrillation, called atrial flutter, takes place in the ring of muscle surrounding the great vessels of the right atrium. Great video and super interesting practical model.

[@changwanyu4231]

Right? that reminded me of cardiac re-entry

[@leandraleo281]

You just made heart biology/cardiology so much more interesting to me. Might just go down a rabbit hole now

[@Airman_Fu]

Is it similar to Wolff-Parkinson White syndrome?

[@stephnue7790]

​@@leandraleo281 you might be interested in the episode "Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart?" of the podcast the joy of why where Steven Strogatz interviews Flavio Fenton And if you are more interested in the math. I can recommend "Sync" by Steven Strogatz. Which is quite accessible even if one does not have a background in math

[@He_js_is]

Huh

[@robertrutz9230]

Physician here, found an interesting parallel to a cardiac arrhythmia in one of the models. At 10:26, the small loop of the ‘flame splitting’ model starts its own circuit, increasing the activation rate of the larger loop. This is very similar to the cardiac arrhythmia ‘AV node reentry tachycardia.’ The cardiac conduction system is also an excitable medium that meets the 3 criteria mentioned my Steve in the video. This flame model could be an interesting was to demonstrate or study this disorder. Thought this was interesting and wanted to share. Thanks for always making interesting and stimulating content, Steve!!

[@ironhell813]

Like the flame movement, it’s caused by oxygen and pressure differentials, at the moment of combustion the oxygen is taken away and the flame moves because the pressure changes when the oxygen is consume at the point of ignition. Then physics takes over, the path of least resistance is the part with the fuel, ie the area directly nearest the point of ignition. The result is movement.

[@N04iK0]

​@@ironhell813Yeah you might have put your answer under the wrong comment

[@ironhell813]

Maybe not?

[@aymacaymacunt814]

That's fascinating

[@pogiewogie]

Fair play. It throws up a lot of possibilities

[@ridcullylives]

I'm a resident doctor and this made me think of all the ways this shows up in our bodies--specifically the nervous system. The "split" track that sometimes feeds back on itself and creates a self-sustaining mini-loop is a wonderful model of how some very common heart rhythm issues develop!

[@DavidCurryFilms]

Purkinje fibres, takes me back to A-level biology. A wonder the heart is.

[@michaeldcxx]

Instantly Converting Atrial Fibrillation into Sinus Rhythm by a Digital Rectal Exam on a 29-year-Old Male

[@aneaglesnest]

Today I learned

[@51spiderwebb]

Yep, came here to say that track is sort of like AVNRT

[@palliyil]

Refractory period + excitable medium criteria immediately reminded me of neurons. This seems like the exact mechanism of central pattern generators in neuronal systems. It would be great to make an artificial neural network out of lighter fluid, if we have a good analogue of synaptic weights.

[@ke9tv]

Forest fire loops may not have been observed, but there's a known phenomenon in high-elevation forests in my part of the world, called 'fir waves' (check Wikipedia). The excitable state is fir trees' susceptibility to wind damage and desiccation, and the refractory state is when the tree is short enough to be protected from damage by its neighbours. There's a period of about 75 years, and alternating bands of fir trees in various stages of development are observed on the slopes of many of the mountains around here. The bands propagate slowly eastward, in the direction that the prevailing westerly wind blows.

[@elkikex]

Amazing! It's like wind on grass on, but extremely slow.

[@nymalous3428]

That is interesting. I wonder where else in nature that sort of phenomenon can be observed. Now I'm going to be looking...

[@erinmac4750]

That's fascinating! I'll have to see if that's something that can be seen in the Sierras here in California. Thanks for sharing this phenomenon! 🍀

[@csus4add9]

@@nymalous3428Predator prey populations are often cyclic. This is why cicadas have prime number year breeding cycles for example. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_cycle

[@albingrahn5576]

very cool thanks for sharing!

[@willoliver5522]

all i could think about this whole video is how dope a restaurant that serves haute cuisine on plates with designs like these would be

[@RoadsideOddity]

Ayyo keep cooking 👀 I'd absolutely go there

[@mranon42023]

same lol, they always use alcohol burning deco anyways

[@sharcc2511]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but smell is just as important for food as taste, and the smell of the lighter fluid would absolutely ruin the food

[@rsmonge]

@@sharcc2511 there are other potential fuels

[@efulmer8675]

@@sharcc2511 Alcohol might work

[@alexwood020589]

The idea of a constantly rotating forest fire all the way around a planet was a major plot point in the book "the player of games" by Iain M Banks. It's a good book, I recommend it.

[@pinkdispatcher]

Yes, I was going to mention that, but thought that there would be a substantial overlap between Steve Mould watchers and Iain Banks readers that someone would have mentioned it. Not Banks's best, in my opinion, but still quite enjoyable.

[@potato9832]

Reminds me of the Snowpiercer train. The train kept moving to prevent freezing (for reasons: fantasy logiks.)

[@EuanMunro]

This is what immediately came to mind to me too. I'll need to check if it was mentioned on the podcast.

[@starstenaal527]

As I heard of it, I thought it would fit well in a fantasy book.

[@KenmeriCaptain]

I never see people reference Banks! his non scifi is world class too - checkout the wasp factory or the bridge

[@TubeofDestiny]

I love how this channel has Steve talks about things like "I'm not exactly sure it's cool, but here it is", and gradually it gets better and better, until you realize it *is* pretty awesome! 😄

[@jii.]

From water themed videos onto Steve's flame-starter era.

[@MorganSullivan]

Just wait for the metal age...

[@NN-fx6oj]

man skipped the earth bending arc

[@AkaraTheLost]

Hes working on becoming the next avatar.

[@AkaraTheLost]

@@NN-fx6oj There are the ones where he used ball bearings to show different things. Those are kindof like earth.

[@WindsorMason]

I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter

[@Sharknana721]

12:10 irresponsible adults: AW MAN

[@vs2d40]

This is basically how Rotating Detonation Engines work except the wave front is supersonic and therefore compressing the gases, removing the need for a compressor The circle with spokes is like a RDE combined with pulse detonation engines lol but great work!

[@yaseen157]

Thought the same!!

[@fiveoneecho]

_Rotating Deflagration Engine_

[@ThirtytwoJ]

The spiral looks like an old high milage carburator suppressed tech that The Why Files literally started yesterdays video on and i was wondering possible reasons for the spiral design where the patent details are missing/classified. This might be exactly why. Also was curious what would happen if used piezoelecric fog instead of spray. Been an odd background tinkering project looking for ways to improve classic trucks since i hate computerized modern crap.

[@xxsolxx23]

a RDE was the first thing I thought of as well

[@ThirtytwoJ]

Think would work better combined with a central inverted aerospike, got on a tangent a while back tryin to figure out how iron mans hand repulsers could work irl as flight stabalizers.. without melting your hand ideally.

[@emockensturm]

If fluid clings to track, Moebius strip

[@SteveMould]

Now there's an idea

[@emockensturm]

You could use something like “canned heat” (the stuff they use to keep buffet food warm, not the band) that would stick better.

[@robertlitman2661]

How about a gelled fluid like Sterno?

[@roycehanly3666]

@@SteveMould maybe hand sanitizer would work? maybe mixed with lighter fluid if it isn't volatile enough.

[@Guardian_Arias]

Maybe a wick down the middle with non volatile walls, basically this shape |-| vapors could build up on either side and the twist at the "end/start" of the strip would be a variable that would have to be tweaked on how fast or slow the twist ought to be. Maybe it doesn't matter.

[@mr89firebird]

The beauty of the rapid prototyping afforded by 3D programming, especially when paired with the ability to parametrize in CAD, is so very well demonstrated, here.

[@MiddlePath007]

... please finish the sentence

[@BRAZZERZ]

@@MiddlePath007he did

[@wamyam]

​@@BRAZZERZtechnically it's a "noun phrase" which is not a complete sentence but he may be finished with it anyway

[@mr89firebird]

@@MiddlePath007 fixed it. Just for you. Now have a cookie.

[@MiddlePath007]

@mr89firebird thanks! I just got cookies today for the first time in, I have no idea how long. It's destiny or something like that.

[@ahetzel9054]

I find it so crazy how this was just randomly discovered. And I love how you took it and just ran away with it trying all these different setups to understand what exactly was happening. What a fun video!

[@josephwilliams5292]

I’m pretty sure the principle behind this, or at least a related process with explosions, has been known for some number of years actually. NASA is working on rocket engines called rotating detonation enginesthat use small detonations that travel around in a circle inside the engine for more efficient thrust

[@huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn]

uwot

[@K31TH3R]

Always amazed at Steve highlighting yet another thing in actual reality that you'd normally expect to find patched out in next months changelog.

[@hermi1-kenobi455]

And then the devs never change it. Is he lazy or was this an intentional game design?

[@videoviewr]

It's already been patched in the beta. Dial 2382 on the nearest landline to join the beta test.

[@wanttobeprivate7466]

@@hermi1-kenobi455 "Meh, whatever, as long as it keeps people from messing with critical bug/exploit 1 through 377800900"

[@ReedCBowman]

I think Changelog should be the next Neil Stephenson or Charles Stross novel about the reality correctors and the Mandela effect.

[@Rob_Enhoud]

And a whole new method of visualizing things in 2D!

[@brianwest2775]

Kudos for the originator for recognizing that this was cool enough to tell Steve about! It is so cool that he just happened to make the size of channel that can produce this effect. If he was using smaller or bigger jars then we may all have been oblivious to this.

[@painlesskun3959]

Now I am worried about the other stuff that is as much cool but never gets talked about (thats why I browse the internet, without any remorse ofc)

[@koitorob]

HMMM, i think most people who set fire to stuff keep it to themselves for fear of arrest. I certainly do 😁

[@user-gv4cx7vz8t]

​@@koitorobThat's quite an evolutionary leap from the discovery of firemaking, which probably spread like, well, you know.

[@zbigniewchlebicki478]

You can create one-way tunnel - it is a step which is short enough for the flame to go up, but high enough so it cannot go back down. You can put it in the generator loops to stabilize them. You have a non-connecting crossing already in the 8 symbol and a a splitter. The only missing part is the NOT gate and we can have a running flame computer with no moving parts and no electricity.

[@Ezechielpitau]

Let's gooooooo

[@videojuegos9379]

i was thinking an XOR could be made with two diodes pointing each other, and then one line running out. When one fire crosses, it would burn all the vapor and the next pulse would die. If both flames come at the same time, they crash like in the circle and die. You can use this same idea to make a NOT gate by having a pulse sent every second or so down a line, and then a diode across the line to burn off the vapor. The timing would be hard to get right, but it might work.

[@SteveMould]

That was the problem I was having! How to stop the fire traveling back up the input lines that carry a zero. This could be the answer!

[@anderpanders6210]

In order to create a not gate, you basically need to be able to put out a fire, with a fire. There seemed to be this sort of phenomenon going on in the video, with flames cancelling each other out. Based on that, this is worth investigating further.

[@debochch]

Should also use a wick placed horizontal into the channel. Then you can have it burn slow on top and have plenty of lighter fluid under the wick. You can have it burn continuously.

[@WHYZMAN_]

This is one of the coolest channels on youtube- the concepts you introduce always get me exited like I'm a kid again!

[@JawnLam]

"Excitable Mediums" sounds like a great business name for a REALLY extroverted fortune teller.

[@joebykaeby]

Or a girlpop band tbh

[@forbiddenera]

😂

[@Bubu567]

Or a dating site for average looking people.

[@mrwpg]

or the precursor to sex toy silicone...

[@Schmoop1260]

Haha, I came into comments looking to see if someone had made this joke 😄

[@MarkBowenPiano]

I've honestly never been so invested in watching a flame going round in circles. Utterly mesmerising and amazing to learn the reasons behind it. Fantastic video!

[@RichardKCollins]

About 1974/1975 I wss at the University of Texas at Austin. Ilya Prigogine was there with his group and they were studying chemical clocks, and chemical oscillators. Now Prigogine got his Nobel prize in 1977 for a range of things with names like "dissipative structures", "systems far from equilibrium", "internal self organization", "irreversible thermodynamics". My point is this kind of play with periodic and repeatable phenomena is the stuff that might lead to a nice prize, or something like a new engine or battery design, or a new toy that makes more money. Now I was going to send this and I remembered "tornadoes" and "solitons". Those self sustaining structure can remain stable as long as there is energy available, or there is no "dissipation". The non-linear Schrodinger equation can lead to solitons and stable states of the vacuum can form matter. I STRONGLY encourage you to devote time to models and and equations. The models (like your game of life) are much easier to play with than symbolic math because a model or digital twin will "do something" and most math still requires the human to do all the work - by hand and memorization. I remember UT fondly and often think of the nuclear fusion group there. They were really excited, then they seem to have given up. But "self sustaining reactions" take on new meaning when one solves the same kinds of models, the same kinds of hints from mathematics -- for nuclear reactions and nuclear fusion propulsion systems. Look at the Wikipedia article on "reaction-diffusion systems". and you will see "traveling wave front" and other useful starting points. Filed as (Self sustaining reactions, solitons and Nobel prizes, wave fronts, atomic and nuclear space ships) Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation Yes, it can be used for computing.

[@Vexcenot]

No you weren't

[@jordansime6684]

This is incredibly fascinating!!

[@CountingStars333]

​@@VexcenotNo, U.

[@CountingStars333]

You're doxing yourself tho.

[@TheDIYScienceGuy]

My kids are also an excitable medium. To get them playing, I just need to help them start, and then it's self-sustaining for a short while. I just need to figure out a way to keep it going for a longer time. 🤔 great video, as always!

[@kieran.grant_]

Spray more lighter fluid on them?

[@TheDIYScienceGuy]

@@kieran.grant_ That's quite dark...

[@kieran.grant_]

@@TheDIYScienceGuy on the contrary, they'll be brighter than ever!

[@TheDIYScienceGuy]

@@kieran.grant_ 🤣

[@Playingwithproxies]

You need to figure out which one is easiest to excite into playing and only try to focus your efforts there let them excite the children next to them

[@eigenmishi_in_3d]

Not only is the material fascinating, but the presenter's communication style is very easy to understand and very pleasant to experience. What a combo!

[@nathanaelvetters2684]

Welcome to Steve Mould. That description fits all of his videos so I suggest you check more of them out!

[@Syncromatic]

Can I just point out how cool it is that 3D printing has gotten us to a point where someone discovers something and he can help you investigate simply by sending some files? No guess work, no shipping parts, just “Send me the files” and you’re ready to investigate.

[@Kaotik199O]

You should see how the car company “Porsche” has made “3D printed pistons” in such a way that conventional molten metal ones cannot be made…. It was a very interesting invention!!! Look it up bro on KZbin bro… it’ll catch your attention 😉😉 They made the 3D printed ones work WAY BETTER than conventional ones is all I’ll say with out ruining it for you…. But it just takes longer to manufacture that’s why it’s not mass manufactured yet… But look up “3D printed pistons Porsche”. 😎😉

[@Lil_Puppy]

You wouldn't download a science experiment!

[@steventhomas4499]

@@Lil_Puppy top tier joke

[@clarencegreen3071]

Old woodworker: It's such a shame that young people are not interested in woodworking these days. The world is going to hell. Young person: We have 3-D printing. Old woodworker: What's that? --Old woodworker

[@Syncromatic]

@@clarencegreen3071 I am thoroughly interested in woodworking, but that stuff takes space! And tools.. and materials.. but mostly space. Oh to have a decent workspace while living in an apartment.

[@jayjaymcfly7475]

I have seen: - Piles of matches' heads - every magnet composition - various stuff thrown from heights - Presses that destroy stuff - every flamable liquid - every explosive compund - every aggressive chemical - everything that up to 1k car batteries can do - everything voltage up to a trillion volt - every weird lego idea - everything you can make music with - I know how you can make/clean a roof in seconds. - I have seen so many laser-cleaned coins - everything liquid nitrogen can do I thought I was done, I felt complete. until now

[@zuthalsoraniz6764]

With a much more intense flame, this concept of a constantly replenished flammable gas mixture being an excitable medium is also the basis for rotating detonation engines, where you have a detonation wave racing around in a circular channel that has an air-fuel mixture continuous fed into it from one end

[@lawrl777]

yup kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHjCdptmf8RnldU

[@leobuana7430]

Thanks for the simple explanations

[@deadytm]

wouldn't be as efficient as normal engines, however. good idea, nonetheless.

[@deadytm]

~note to self~ well, it depends on how it's engineered, to be honest. but i don't think it'd be efficient to keep the flame running in the background, if you know what i mean.

[@Jejdnxjx817]

But isn't perpetual motion?

[@xz4ct801]

You just figured out a phenomenon, that I think is being developed right now in rocket engines. I got a friend in engineering that told me they are working on an engine design with a flame spinning around, gets 30% more efficiency as of now

[@XTh3T3RMIN4T0RX]

You are correct, it’s a similar phenomenon to rotating detonation engines. There are some big differences to the RDE design relative to the simplification in the video, but it works off of a similar principle

[@JamesDowningFPV]

I was looking for this comment, figured Steve was going to bring this up!

[@XD152awesomeness]

I was thinking about the rotating detonation system too! They have a slow motion video of one in action. It’s actually so much faster than the fire rings in this video

[@LordWhirlin]

I just commented the same thing, scrolled down and saw your reply as well, we must have watched the same video about that!

[@michaeldebidart]

Bro really hit em with the “I got a friend in the industry”

[@ivovelo]

Just found out, men are excitable media: "the first is that after it has been excited, it can't be excited again right away. The second characteristic is that after a certain amount of time the medium is once again excitable." Made me chuckle way too much for my age. Love the vids, you're amazing, Steve!

[@musaran2]

There is a meme joke about a 24h wave of morning wood…

[@DavidShields-h1q]

@ivovelo @@musaran2 The recovery time after sexual um, activity is called the refractory period.

[@lenatrixy]

except trans men

[@MistaTurdburgerz]

Haha s3x! So is humor

[@MistaTurdburgerz]

@@lenatrixy**accept

[@TheRealKeymaster]

Instead of the "sun"-like shape, you could have a circle in a middle, which is surrounded by spirals instead of the straight lines. I would love to see that, I think that would look so amazing!

[@chaoticgood7128]

This concept is actually very similar to the principle that is used in rotating detonation engines. These are engines where the flame is supersonic (so a detonation instead of a deflagration) and the detonation travels in a circular path continuously. You should do a video about those. They're super interesting.

[@AlexandervanGessel]

I was about to comment that this is a rotating deflagration 'engine' (it doesn't produce power, so it doesn't really count as an engine).

[@neilpetrarca7395]

Yup.... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_detonation_engine

[@romainlaugier5915]

Yes it does! It's a rocket engine, it's hooked up to a nozzle.

[@FaanVanRooyen]

Video by Scott Manley kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHjCdptmf8RnldUsi=7C8ZjktP-zK3TA2p

[@fusionwing4208]

I dont think they're actually used in rockets yet? But if I recall, the goal of the engine is to create a very efficient and extremely powerful engine capable of replacing the current standard engine design

[@JazzMac36251]

One of the most fun examples of excitable mediums in chemistry is the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. Shoutout to NileRed on that one.

[@ShatteredKnight]

Yup also remembered that during the video

[@xmysef4920]

It also what his profile picture is if I remenber right

[@MiddlePath007]

I was thinking the same thing

[@BlackHoleForge]

To me this incorporates the real essence of science. You discover some weird anomaly, and you keep drilling down and drilling down till you find the answer.

[@alexv1154]

Monkey sees weird thing, Monkey has insatiable curiosity about weird thing, Monkey figures out weird thing, Monkey writes thesis paper about weird thing.

[@PluetoeInc.]

good enough answer*

[@HornadySetiawan]

Happens also in my love life. Old sparks reignites and dies off, after sometime old flings may respark, and come to full circle, etc. 🤩

[@aeonturnip2]

"The Player of Games" by Iain M. Banks features a planet where there is a worldwide forest fire with a predictable flame front travelling around. I can't recall whether it is permanent or periodic, but this video reminded me of it and now I'm going to have to reread it. Again, for probably the 10th time.

[@InsufficientGravitas]

Pretty sure it's permanent, there is mention of animals having to continually flee the flame front, with the fire it's self being consistent in speed.

[@MikeLevin]

I had to delete my comment on this after scrolling down and seeing you were first, ha ha.

[@dielaughing73]

​@@InsufficientGravitas yeah the flame front continually circles the planet destroying whatever has grown since it last passed through

[@lukeburrage]

If I remember rightly, every 20 years there is a “super cycle” which burns much hotter and faster, and destroys all the big trees too, not just the undergrowth. The book’s climax coincides with the super cycle fire storm.

[@AlbertYonson]

There’s a Doctor Who audio story, ‘Chase The Night’, with a similar premise.

[@dextardextar]

if only people could figure out how to harness the power of combustion

[@SteveMould]

One day

[@tonep3168]

I would like to patent something I call a “vehicle”. This would be based upon a horse carriage, and instead of a horse, it would use a volatile spirit pump which harnesses the power from the expanding flame front, and turns it into phsical force. I need a name for this infernal machine, does anyone here have any suggestions?

[@arthurman415]

@@tonep3168 i carn't think of any

[@harrysmbdgs]

@@tonep3168MADNESS!! It’ll never catch on.

[@ASlickNamedPimpback]

@@harrysmbdgs it simply will be a fad, much like the computing machine and its accompanying interwebs

[@WCPointy60]

I discovered this as a middle-schooler with hair mousse in the bathtub. You can draw any design and the flame will travel as the mousse bubbles pop with flammable gas. Easy cleanup and rapid iteration on designs. My favorite was a pentagram/pentacle as the various intersections would launch out flames as rapidly as the refractory period would allow.

[@VenciiGames]

It’s amazing that people like Steve make a living doing stuff like this. Maybe he has another job on the side but I don’t know. Making these videos takes a lot of work and time. It’s just amazing that these days someone can make a career out of this.

[@Lladmdub2107]

I love how much of this channel is just little tiny observations that I would’ve been making when I was a kid. Lots of “what does THIS do?”

[@waffling0]

I just wanted to shout out Iain M. Banks' great novel "The Player of Games" which has a planet with a perpetual forest fire around the equator, resulting in the planet having fire seasons and regrowth seasons. I always thought that was such a cool concept.

[@czemacleod]

Interesting. Might have to check that out. My immediate thought was planetary rings. I don't know what dimensions would be needed to get a forest growing and able to span the 80km circumference (and maybe the lower 'gravity' would mean the trees would grow faster).

[@Tao_Tology]

@@czemacleod Iirc, in the novel the fires usually don't destroy the entire growth each pass, only younger trees and plants.

[@dsp4392]

The moment he mentioned we couldn't have perpetual fire around the Earth, I thought it would be a cool sci-fi trope, and of course someone did it already!

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

​​@@czemacleod Oooh... Imagine a ring system that sublimated both oxygen and a flammable gas (take your pick; let's say methane). There's also a fire that sits *_just_* behind the terminator line, in the shadow of the planet. So as the ring system comes into the sunlight, it produces more gas, which the flame continually consumes on the night side, chasing the illuminated portion of the ring... Rinse, repeat! 😊​

[@mikemhz]

@@DUKE_of_RAMBLE Space is big so they would have to be some gassy rocks

[@grndkntrl]

Very cool. It immediately brings to mind the concept of rotating detonation rocket engines.

[@MikeyMobes]

was just thinking that!

[@johnpekkala6941]

I have never seen or even heard of this phenomenon before. I however have heard of the rotating detonation engine but I never understood what that concept meant or how it was supposed to work, (the word detonation just brought to my mind something like the insanley loud and inefficient pulse jet engine) also since this is as I understand a brand new type of engine I thought you needed something MUCH more complicated then a grooved ring with fuel to make what appearently is what makes this new type of rocket engines work well.... work but seems that this is not the case. I gotta 3d print some different rings like these and try this thing out myself!

[@AlexanderBurgers]

@@johnpekkala6941 the big trick with the rotating detonation is that it exhibits much of all the same kinda things featured in this video, flames going backwards, staying in place, going on fire all at once, etc.. Except inside of a rocket engine, physics is a lot more destructive, so you really want to make sure it doesn't misbehave, and for that the design and the operating conditions have to be just right.

[@L_and]

These would look so cool in slow motion Imagine a collab between Steve and The SlowMoGuys!

[@charliespinoza1966]

I feel like this is the beginning of something, and I’m really glad to have been here for it

[@jasperfk]

He discussed excitable mediums and few years ago, around 2019 I think. I sent Steve a video of some dishwasher bubbles bursting in a similar way to the hot chocolate video above. It’s cool to see a follow-up! Edit* it was the video about backflow incense burners from 2022, not 2019!

[@Iswearitsnotanalt]

I actually saw this exact same effect with the brandy around a Christmas pudding years ago and I'm so glad to finally have an explanation.

[@petermacleod5710]

Now you mention it . Yes so did we. Hot pudding, hot rum poured over and lit. Lovely flames but then as it cooled the ring of depleted rum on the plate round the pud behaves EXACTLY like this. Now I know why

[@David8n]

I was going to say this. Anyone who has burned brandy on a Christmas pudding has seen this.

[@DMfromWesternAustralia]

How about “brandy dancers” for the name of the phenomenon and each flame?

[@skidartist5720]

I used to make similar chasing flames 30 years ago or so, simply drawing designs in lighter fuel on concrete pavement and the flames would chase back and forwards around the drawing.

[@MiddlePath007]

It makes that nice fwub fwub fwub sound

[@weakw1ll]

0:40 the best kind of discovery

[@Meredithsmayhem]

Love that this phenomenon was encountered quite accidentally and then explored so thoroughly. Well done. New sub.

[@thebazmann]

Same

[@SirLightfire]

that's like half his channel You'll love it

[@tompw3141]

The most exciting phrase in science is not "Eureka!" but "‘that’s weird..."

[@silentblackhole]

I love that this was stumbled upon naturally and you just when on a journal figuring it out. This opposed to looking through data of top searched for keywords and trends in areas where you want to make videos. This is just so organic and I love it!

[@kevinbyrne4538]

I suspect that at this point his audience is large enough that people are often sending him these natural curiosities.

[@bastienfelix4605]

one thought about the fluid not draining away from the raised section on your "figure eight" track: maybe the layer lines produced by the 3D printing process helped the fluid cling to the track by creating tiny steps that the fluid could pool on easier(thanks to surface tension, maybe)?

[@johnpatton6470]

I was thinking that it was possibly caused by the gas being lighter and floating upward.

[@Chauzuvoy]

I figured that since what really matters is the thin layer of vapor over the fuel that even though it he fluid doesn't persist over that segment the vapor might still be constrained by it enough

[@bastienfelix4605]

@@Chauzuvoy I truly don't know exactly what happens. My comment is a wild guess based on my experience with my 3d printer, but the real reason certainly is at least partly what you said

[@dhgmllcshea5038]

Perhaps the flame front creates a pressure wave that pushes/flows vapor along the track to "jump the gap". The vapor appears to be only slightly lighter than air..

[@bastienfelix4605]

@@dhgmllcshea5038 That seems plausible but It's been years since my last physics lesson in high school so Idk😅...

[@JelenaMajic]

"the excited state of on fire" is my new favourite string of words I think

[@leroy7647]

You knocked it out of the park with the very many relevant comparisons. It shows you dive in so deep to intrinsically understand the physics we all take for granted every day.

[@keekenox3993]

The endless forest fire is actually a plot point in the Scifi novel Player of Games by Iain M Banks. When you mentioned it I was pointing at the screen like "OH OH OH I READ ABOUT THIS CONCEPT"

[@ikesau]

knew that sounded familiar!

[@Portponky]

good to see a commenter with culture

[@Thing.Appreciator]

Looked for this in the comments, good to see other nerds out there

[@GoogleAreDumb]

Knew I'd read it in sci fi somewhere! I'd settled on Ringworld as a likely option. Thanks for saving me trying to figure it out.

[@xyoxus]

DiCaprio-pointing-meme.png

[@QTinEP]

Steve touched on it with the heart fibrillating, but it also happens on every heartbeat, and we can use EKGs and EGMs to locate the source of arrhythmias and burn them to break the circuit, restoring normal heart conduction (usually permanently). If this type of thing interests you, I highly recommend researching EGMs and arrhythmia mapping. The design where the flame splits and reconnects resembles a re-entrant tachycardia. The circle with legs out of it is similar to a micro re-entrant tachycardia. On the augmented spiral, you can imagine a re-entrant tachycardia forcing an unstable rhythm, where the ventricles beat too quickly to fill. Blood pressure will slowly spiral down until the coronaries are unable to perfuse, eventually leading to cardiac arrest if the rhythm isn't returned to something stable.

[@Starmast3rmusic]

Catheter Ablation! I actually had to have this procedure twice. First time, I was asleep and they couldn't figure out all of the sources. Second time, I was awake on the table for over five hours while they fed the catheter up to my heart-- this time actually worked though. The beginning of this video seemed very familiar, until we got to about 7:28 and he made that connection. Pretty cool stuff and a great vid.

[@TheNightOwl082]

wdym "burn them"? I'd love to learn more!

[@starviper123456]

@@TheNightOwl082 LIterally use something to scar the myocardium so it no longer conducts

[@therealcaldini]

I have a friend whose job is to do exactly this.

[@lordalbert5606]

So excited about this video! As a new medical graduate hoping to go into EP, I was immediately thinking about how this model could be used to demonstrate entrainment in reentrant arrhythmias. I was hooked into this a few years ago by Dr Joshua Cooper's video on entrainment (kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3WWi5Wvec6Crac) and I think there are so many things that can be demonstrated using this model!

[@keo_napjai]

I think you have the right calls when speaking about the explanations. I think the sustained fires by the junctions are occurring because they have more air above them. Try to close the walls slightly (more experiments are needed). It could be measured somehow; the lighter fluid volume-to-air surface ratio can be a starting point. Depending on the angle of the junction, several ratios can happen. I think this has to be taken into account when narrowing the gap-above. If you can solve the sustained fire problem, logic gates can be possible. Andrew -fire juggler -Physician -emerging programmer -an admirer of your channel

[@patrickfewins8411]

Your track at 10:16 is actually a really good stand in for a medical phenomenon called AVNRT. It happens when the heart has a re-entrant fast circuit at the AV node in the heart. It similarly fires new beats down to the ventricles and up to the atria just like that track. It was really quite cool to see a physical interpretation of this when I’ve only ever seen animations or illustrations of it.

[@ufva8029]

sorry, that means there is something going backwards in the heart?

[@pemo2676]

7:22 ive never seen a more perfect rendering of the patterns that sometimes happen when i close my eyes

[@therealcaldini]

Maybe the rod and cones replenish themselves in a manner that’s similar to an excitable medium.

[@mspeir]

12:10 "So that would be something for responsible adults only." 🥺😞 Darn it!

[@Gauss247]

this is the most exciting thing i've watched in youtube in yearrrrsss, Thanks Stev!e!!!!

[@JacobL228]

Don't forget what you said at the beginning: it's not the lighter fluid that's burning; it's the vapor coming off it. The raised part of the figure-8 trough is probably getting some vapor from the part directly below it.

[@CyberUtilia]

Maybe it can be made more reliable by having a part of the upslopes be covered with a "roof" so that vapor from the lower part gets some extra guidance towards the raised part. The "roof" sections should stay very short tho, otherwise they'll stop the flames cause they become void of oxygen as a flame passes into it (or so I imagine, maybe the flame can draw oxygen some decent distance through a tunnel). You could also use capillary force to bring some fluid up there. Maybe a simple piece of paper or fiberglass. I also found from trying this myself with a metal lid that you can put the whole thing in shallow water to keep it cool and avoid unwanted ignitions after a flame has repeatedly passed and heated up the metal. The shallow water also helped keeping it horizontally and achieve good distribution of the fluid.

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Dang, this is an effect I've seen a million times in a non looping shape. Kinda bummed I didn't discover the artistic potential myself as a teenager when I was burning patches into my desk instead of doing my homework. I haven't watched the whole video yet to see your explanation, but I suspect it's a fairly simple matter of the flammable vapor entering and exiting its combustible range in air. Once ignited the vapor and oxygen is quickly consumed in the hollow of the print causing the flame to extinguish and progress to a new area. By the time it comes around again there's been enough time for the vapor and air to freshly mix and the burnt exhaust to clear out.

[@schwuzi]

You're spot on!

[@jamesmnguyen]

I love how you experimented with the ring parameters. Really shows how science can be done.

[@Patrick-pu5di]

7:50 my favorite example are "shimmering" bee nests. so cool

[@MakerOnTheMove]

Unless I'm just missing it, I'm really surprised that I haven't seen anyone mention those old falling sand games. The whole idea of an "excitable media" immediately reminded me of them. Sometimes called "Pyro Sand" or something similar, you can play with different materials that have different interactions with each other and different reaction speeds. You could create "emitters" each material, and I spent many hours playing with the the differing wavefront speeds to try to create stable reaction cycles.

[@donperegrine922]

Bro, I would have never thought of them! We should mention that these are computer simulations, not like a board game or something. I almost missed what you were saying. Yeah so there's these computer games where you can pour sands or fluids, like gunpowder, waters, sand or gasoline etc onto the field. They interact with physics engines and create some cool effects. I guess OP here is saying that he played around with setups of these sources built in a way that had some complex resulting behaviour. I just blew shit up, but I was a dumb kid

[@MaskedDeath_]

I recall spending hours upon hours playing around with them, the first one I ever saw was called "Powder Game" at dan-ball and it's available online, then I found a much more advanced one called "The Powder Toy". The latter is download-only, but it's still being updated.

[@RavenMobile]

My kid and I have used Sand:Box and Powder Game on Android devices, they're really fun to create complex reactions. They have plenty of Conway's Game Of Life in them.

[@Pro_Triforcer]

Wake up babe, they made SPRK IRL.

[@salmiac-3105]

Holy shit i was just thinking that "wait a minute, this seems to behave like in that one powder toy game from my childhood"

[@michaelwulfbane]

My first thought would be to replicate various F1 circuits. Perhaps a flame trough Monaco can be a more compelling procession than when the cars are on it.

[@abigailcooling6604]

I would buy something like that!

[@grabham59]

I'm sure those of us a certain age looked at the figure of 8 one and thought Scaletrix - so why not formula 1 circuits?

[@Becky_Cooling]

YES, YES, YES!!! I would totally buy one! (preferably Silverstone)

[@januzi2]

0:15 It's just buffering. You need a better wifi, I think.

[@ZionMusical]

Lol

[@magpieMOB]

The "splitting"/"spawning" phenomenon where junctions are present feels like a compelling visual metaphor for divergent cognition

[@l_t_m_f]

Pretty deep for what seems at first glance like a "toy" idea. Crazy to think about the relationship between geometry and energy and how one constraint the other into what seems almost like a living system.

[@miskolinaccc]

The motion at 10:12 with the split pathways model is very reminiscent of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, if you imagine that the smaller circles are the heart ventricles, you can see how a pathologic pathway will reexcite the heart way faster than it takes for the normal route to come around, very interesting to see!

[@mortadhaalaa5907]

I thought it looked like AVNRT but AVRT also looks kinda like this

[@gregtich1]

I was thinking the exact same thing! Someone needs to make a model of the conducting system to do this.

[@mattgies]

Days after watching this, what most perplexes me is how you made the knowledge leap, from seeing this phenomenon to knowing the category of excitable media (I prefer that pluralization). If it was a category you already knew about, fair play--but if not, I don't know how I would start a research inquiry to even discover the category.

[@Erhannis]

I've heard this called the Rumpelstiltskin problem

[@RachelJohnny-b9g]

The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.

[@TejPandit11]

11:40 Congratulations, you have achieved perfect uzumaki chakra control

[@Wepawnet]

I know this is meant to be Naruto, but... "Sorry, my right eye can't seem to focus..."

[@TheBricklyAvatar]

Loved that shoutout to JK Brickworks, a Canadian Lego Legend!

[@ivanlovell1195]

You mentioned cellular automata that model excitable media. The WireWorld ruleset seems to model this particular type of system quite well, and has been demonstrated to operate as a computer. This presents a variety of interesting possibilities for track designs: diodes that permit flame front propogation in only one direction, logic gates that permit flames to exit them only when they recieve particular patterns of flame, perhaps a more reliable clock or oscillator…

[@r9nx714]

This is giving me steampunk ideas

[@toddwasson3355]

Great thinking. How about a fire computer/calculator?

[@lenardEkko]

youtube finally recommended content i wouldn't find on my own that is actually really interesting

[@rubixube4239]

That instantly reminded me of the cellular automata called wireworld (like its literally the same concept)! And you CAN make logic with it !!

[@notgonnadoxxmyself2219]

inb4 lighter fluid tracks are turing complete

[@MrDogfish83]

I get on a “Conway’s game of life” kick every so often and learned about wireworld the most recent time. I liked how simple it was

[@phoenixdk]

The image of an ever-burning forest strip is mindblowing... really a wonderful video of yours. Big thanks to the person who noticed the effect, and took the time to send it in :)

[@23Scadu]

6:23 I had only seen refractory time being brought up in a somewhat different context, but the description works.

[@msinaanc]

You always seem to find these interesting but fundamental topics. It is very thought provoking.

[@flemdogscience]

Super interesting! thanks for sharing. That endless loop is cool, but I think my fav was that one that split because it started to light at random spots and go all wild. Very cool!

[@michelefurci3506]

You should make interconnectable parts so that you can build custom track with logic: -straigth path -generator (the circle with one arm going out) -the splitter (Y shape) -gates that you can open/close along the path -...

[@jones1618]

And traveling channels should be able to ignite wider/deeper channels to make a standing flame there, like domino setups where a cascade knocks over a much larger formation that spells out letters, etc.

[@mecha-sheep7674]

So, can we build a flame powered microprocessor ? It would have a frequency of around 1hz and a density around 30 cm (rather than 3 nm), but that would be fun.

[@sanantonio855]

@@mecha-sheep7674 People have done it with water, so why not!

[@frankenlaptop6923]

fire is Turing complete??

[@veedrac]

Yes, this is exactly what came to mind for me. It seems the perfect medium for it. A key difference to other media like dominoes and water is that there's a healthy steady state, so you can clock it. Even just a binary counter out of this would be fire.

[@patrickhodson8715]

10:05 I agree with the onscreen text. I think that as “media” gets used more and more commonly, the other plural “mediums” will become more and more distinguished in meaning from things like social media or news media. Which is interesting, because one might expect the more technical word to take the Latin/Greek plural and the more common word to take the regular plural, but the opposite seems to be happening here.

[@davemarm]

There's more than one variant of English. There are at least two Englishes that are in use today.

[@SteveMould]

@davemarm I think you mean "at least two Englia"

[@petermw88]

I love the way you qualified 'adults', not just adults, but 'responsible adults'..

[@brokens1097]

Heavier than air gases would open up tons of crazy, co2/propane fights for instance. Interesting concept- great video

[@brooksey097]

I'm glad you mentioned human heart muscle as an excitable medium. This video is a great visual representation of reentrant tachycardia in hearts. That could be a great video!

[@lesbunniuwu]

Steve really just made a redstone clock with some flame vfx

[@sidremus]

Steve taking one for the team here, spending a week sniffing lighter fluid fumes and half melted 3D printer plastic. What a lad!

[@almfreak]

Seeing this flame traveling around the ring made me think of the first time I stumbled upon the Wikipedia article on Rotating Detonation Engines. It looks like the same concept but instead of slow-burning lighter fuel you have detonations traveling around the annulus at supersonic speed!

[@troyclayton]

That's so cool! Naphtha vapor is heavier than air (like most 'flammable' fluids), so it builds up inside the walls instead of diffusing away. The other factor is oxygen- in wider areas (like junctures) oxygen can flow down to keep a sustained flame for a time- in narrow regions oxygen could be pushed back by the expanding gases from combustion. Naphtha has a high vapor pressure, and the flame not being sustained (moving) may be more of a lack of oxygen issue. Or not. Thank you for the video and getting my gears grinding.

[@tsawy6]

Mm, maybe narrowing the junctions could clean up the action! Huh, I wonder what sort of... isometric junctions are even possible.

[@jamescurran64]

The notion of a cycling forest fire features in Iain Banks “The Player of Games”!

[@freedomfreedomfreedom]

This is soooo cool. This is the kind of thing you want to have around during a smoke session. "Hey, look at this!"

[@LifeinJars]

All the best things start by experimenting with closed ecosystems!

[@kackers]

The moment i saw the jars I immediately thought of your channel, cool to see you here in the comments

[@hamtorpey]

This happens every year with my Christmas pudding. We light a ladle of brandy and pour it over the pudding. The whole thing burns for a while, then it's just the ring of brandy that pools on the plate around the pudding. It usually reaches a state where the flame runs around the ring like this.

[@willowtdog6449]

That’s so neat!

[@MrMonkey666]

Same, 13 years ago I videoed it and never got a sensible answer as to why. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5ixlY1pjr12bacsi=dC2YD4kkPmHgbf7Q

[@mikefochtman7164]

I'm reminded of the story about the Saturn V F-1 engines. There, they had problems with the flame moving around at high speeds actually causing the engine to self-destruct. They came up with (empirically) a baffle design that blocked the flame oscillations. The baffles themselves were cooled by sending the oxidizer (or maybe it was fuel, I can't remember) through the baffles just before exiting through holes into the chamber.

[@evansaschow]

I am 100% adding a continual ring forest fire to my D&D world

[@jpdemer5]

Reminds me of the "Super Kamiokande" experiment, a huge vat of purified water completely surrounded by 11,000 large (50-cm), custom-made photomultiplier tubes. It was designed to detect flashes of light from rare events like proton decay and neutrino collisions. The tubes were evacuated glass structures, and when one imploded one day, it triggered the implosion of its neighbors, and, well . . . regeneration time was better than forest regrowth, but not by much. "Super Kamiokande 2" had acrylic shields between the tubes.

[@emersonharkin8877]

This is the best practical demo of/analogy for neural action potential propagation that I've ever seen.

[@nickrozzi3125]

This is amazing. What immediately comes to my mind is as the fire goes in a circle it must work like a cyclotron and generate radio frequency energy. Since gas is basically a plasma state of charged particles and whenever charged particles move in a circular path they emit radio waves... It would be pretty cool to do an experiment to study this

[@christianmichael6977]

This seems useful for a video game villain to design flame-trap dungeons. Bowser or Ganon could learn a thing or two.