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 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
| |||||||||
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
Orthogonal
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.[1]
| 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 |
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.[2]
| The 4c/5 blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |
c/2 orthogonal
The c/2 blinker fuse burns cleanly through blinkers that are orthogonally offset by an even number of cells and has period 2x spacing. HWSS burns clearly through output of both Blinker Puffers 1 and 2 and front part of Blinker ship 1.[3] It consists of a single heavyweight spaceship and is useful because it travels at the same speed as the known blinker puffers, allowing for the construction of arbitrary-length spaceships. Note that Coe ship's side spark can also be used in cleanup.
| The c/2 HWSS blinker fuse (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 |
c/10 orthogonal
The c/10 blinker fuse burns cleanly through blinkers that are orthogonally offset. It consists of a single copperhead and can be used to create growing spaceships that grow very quickly.
| The c/10 copperhead 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
- ↑ Jason Summers' jslife pattern collection. Retrieved on May 27, 2009.
- ↑ Robert Wainwright (December 1971). Lifeline, vol 4, page 7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Alan Hensel's lifep.zip pattern collection.
- ↑ iNoMed (January 19, 2021). Re: Spaceship Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
- ↑ Christopher 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