Tail

Tail
x = 2, y = 3, rule = B3/S23 o$o$2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 21 HEIGHT 400 SUPPRESS ]] #C [[ HEIGHT 600 WIDTH 600 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 60 ]]
View static image
Pattern type	Still life component
Number of cells	4
Bounding box	2 × 3
Static symmetry	C1
Discovered by	Unknown
Year of discovery	1970
Pattern files Plaintext tail.cells RLE tail.rle

Tail (sometimes referred to as L or J) is a tetromino and great-grandparent of the beehive. It can often be attached to still lifes to create a larger still life. Even more important are the ways in which it may be attached to a marginally stable object of any kind to obtain overall stability while suppresing (or possibly exploiting) its own spark. The simplest such example is eater 1, in which a tail and a pre-block mutually stabilize one another. A tail can also stabilize one end of a fuse (e.g. as in eg. fuse with two tails).

As a still life component

A green background indicates that the object the tail is added to is stable without it; a red background indicates this is not the case.

Object		Population	Other part
	Eater 1	7		Pre-block
	Tub with tail	8		Tub
	Hook with tail			Hook
	Cis-boat with tail	9		Boat
	Trans-boat with tail
	Long hook with tail			Long hook
	Hat		Unnamed
	Cis-barge with tail	10		Barge
	Trans-barge with tail
	Beehive with tail			Beehive
	Claw with tail			Claw
	Cis-very long hook with tail			Very long hook
	Trans-very long hook with tail
	Loop		Unnamed

Long^3 tail

Long³ tail refers to two unstable objects (cis and trans versions). Their significance is as a component of other objects, including the still lifes trans-tub with long³ tail, cis-tub with long³ tail, trans-boat with long³ tail and cis-boat with long³ tail, each of which uses a stable object that shares the cell at the end of the tail.

x = 4, y = 6, rule = B3/S23 3bo$3bo$2bo$bo$o$2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ HEIGHT 400 WIDTH 600 THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 36 ]]

Trans long3 tail (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Long^4 tail

Long⁴ tail refers to two unstable objects (cis and trans versions). Their significance is as a component of other objects, including the still lifes tub with long⁴ tail, cis-tub with long⁴ tail and trans-tub with long⁴ tail, each of which uses a stable object that shares the cell at the end of the tail.

x = 5, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 4bo$4bo$3bo$2bo$bo$o$2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ HEIGHT 400 WIDTH 600 THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 36 ]]

Trans long4 tail (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

See also

• Cover
• Leg
• Legs