Kickback reaction
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| Kickback reaction | |||||
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| View static image | |||||
| Pattern type | Miscellaneous | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cells | 10 | ||||
| Bounding box | 8 × 5 | ||||
| Static symmetry | Unspecified | ||||
| Discovered by | Unknown | ||||
| Year of discovery | Unknown | ||||
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The Kickback reaction is a collision of two gliders resulting in a single glider travelling in the opposite direction to one of the original gliders. This is important in the proof of the existence of a universal constructor, and in Bill Gosper's total aperiodic, as well as a number of other constructions.
One other two-glider collision, with gliders meeting at 180 degrees, also produces a clean output glider, and may also be called a "kickback reaction". This reaction is occasionally useful in glider syntheses. However, it is rarely used in signal circuitry or in self-supporting patterns like the Caterpillar or Centipede, because 90-degree collisions are generally much easier to arrange.