Blinker fuse
| Blinker fuse | |||||||||
| View animated image | |||||||||
| View static image | |||||||||
| Pattern type | Fuse | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | 18 | ||||||||
| Speed | 2c/3 | ||||||||
| Discovered by | Unknown | ||||||||
| Year of discovery | Unknown | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
|
Discussion thread about collections of fuses on LifeWiki: https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6262 |
A blinker fuse is any fuse that burns through a line of blinkers. Alternatively, it may refer to the 2c/3 period 18 fuse that burns cleanly through blinkers that are spaced four cells apart, shown to the right. This particular fuse can be combined with blinker puffer 1 to create various interesting patterns, such as moving sawtooth, slow puffer 1, and slow puffer 2.
House alone, attached to a blinker wick with spacing 4, is a predecessor to the fuse shown in the infobox (also known as a "house fuse").
Other blinker fuses
This list does not include trivial fuses where a spaceship deletes or modifies stationary objects, or engineered fuses consisting of parts that can be trivially rearranged to get different speeds. Fuses where a spaceship deletes objects are known for c/6 orthogonal, c/4 diagonal and c/10 orthogonal.
Orthogonal
4c/5 orthogonal
The 4c/5 fuse burns through alternating blinkers with the same spacing as the 2c/3 fuses. It was reported by Hugh Thompson in 1971.[1]
| The 4c/5 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
5c/7 orthogonal
The 5c/7 "pi" fuse burns through alternating blinkers with the spacing one cell further apart than the 2c/3 fuses. It was probably first found on August 9th, 2016 in HighLife, where it burns cleanly. It was later independently re-discovered by BokaBB in Conway's Game of Life, where it produces pulsars.
2c/3 orthogonal
There are two other well-known 2c/3 blinker fuses that act on blinkers that are orthogonally offset by four cells, both of which are shown below. They both burn cleanly and have period 6.[2]
| A longer house fuse with a shorter period of 6 (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
| A blinker fuse known as a "bomb fuse" for its shape (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
6c/13 orthogonal
The 6c/13 blinker fuse burns cleanly through blinkers that are orthogonally offset by six cells and has period 26.[3] It is most well-known for the role that it plays in blinker ship 1, where the fact that it burns at a rate slower than c/2 is taken advantage of to create a growing spaceship.
In January 2021, INoMed constructed an adjustable high-period 3c/7 orthogonal puffer that repeatedly ignites this fuse.[4]
| The 6c/13 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
8c/15 orthogonal
An 8c/15 orthogonal blinker fuse exists which burns through a row of alternating blinkers as follows:
| The 8c/15 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
8c/21 orthogonal
Another blinker fuse which runs on the traffic light, similarly to the 6c/13 fuse.
| The 8c/21 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
Diagonal
There is a diagonal blinker fuse involving a B-heptomino reacting with a line of blinkers.
| The diagonal blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
A wing can engage in a similar reaction, forming a glide-reflective 2c/44 diagonal blinker fuse.[5]
| The diagonal 2c/44 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
See also
References
- ↑ Robert Wainwright (December 1971). Lifeline, vol 4, page 7.
- ↑ Jason Summers' jslife pattern collection. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
- ↑ Alan Hensel's lifep.zip pattern collection.
- ↑ iNoMed (January 19, 2021). Re: Spaceship Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
- ↑ Lucy D'Agostino (April 21, 2021). Re: Thread for your unsure discoveries (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
External links
- Blinker fuse at the Life Lexicon
- A pattern in the Game of Life - Forum thread at xkcd.com