V spark
| V spark | |||||||||
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| Pattern type | Spark | ||||||||
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| Number of cells | 3 | ||||||||
| Bounding box | 3 × 2 | ||||||||
| Static symmetry | Unspecified | ||||||||
| Discovered by | Unknown | ||||||||
| Year of discovery | 1969 | ||||||||
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A V spark is a common triplet spark. It is a parent of the domino, another spark which dies immediately.
Two common grandparents of the V spark are pentominoes: the short table and crotchet both evolve into a pentaplet, which is also V-shaped, which then becomes the triplet V spark afterwards. The V spark can be commonly found from the decay of much larger sparks such as the phi spark, line-of-six spark and twin bees shuttle spark. As such, V sparks are produced frequently by the twin bees shuttle as well as phi-sparker oscillators such as the pentadecathlon and Tanner's p46.
The spark can convert a pre-block or block into a glider as shown below; an example application is new gun 2. It can also turn a glider into a block, so two V sparks can make a reflector. The smallest example of this mechanism is the PD-pair reflector.
The spark can also be used to initiate a hive five reaction with two beehives.
| V spark converting a pre-block into a glider (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
A V-shaped motif can be seen in many still lifes. The tub can be seen as the V spark with an additional stabilising cell, and the boat one with two. Two V sparks can be combined to create either a beehive or barge, both of which are stable. The V, however, is generally considered too primitive to be a true still life component.
Delayed V spark
When all 3 cells of a V spark are alive in the previous generation, it is typically referred to as a "delayed V spark".
| an example of a "delayed V spark" (click above to open LifeViewer) |
See also
- V sparkers (category)
External links
- V spark at the Life Lexicon