Pipsquirter

A pipsquirter (or simply squirter) is an oscillator that produces a domino spark that is oriented parallel to the direction from which it is produced (in contrast to domino sparkers like the pentadecathlon and heavyweight spaceship, which produce domino sparks perpendicular to the direction of production). Most of the useful pipsquirters have been found by Noam Elkies, including p6 pipsquirter and p7 pipsquirter. They are a type of functional dot sparker.

Much like the T-noses, the edge of the domino farthest from the oscillator must be off for all other cycles of the oscillator to qualify as a pipsquirter, as said cell being present during any other generations has the capability to be disruptive to catalysis. As such, patterns such as a p29 shuttle, despite producing a perpendicular domino spark, have it be generated through dying debris in the same place.

Elementary pipsquirters are known for periods:

• 3 (p3 pipsquirter)
• 4 (p4 pipsquirter)
• 5 (p5 pipsquirter)
• 6 (p6 pipsquirter)
• 7 (p7 pipsquirter)
• 10 (Catagolue: here)
• 12 (Crown)
• 15 (Catagolue: here)
• 20 (Catagolue: here)
• 21 (p21 honey farm hassler)
• 24 (Catagolue: here)
• 30 (Period-30 honey farm hasslers)
• 42 (Catagolue: here)
• 49 (Catagolue: here)
• 52 (Honey farm hasslers#p52)
• 57 (Catagolue: here)
• 59 (Catagolue: here)
• 60 (Catagolue: here)
• 83 (Catagolue: here)
• 84 (p84 honey farm hassler)
• 109 (R-pentomino hasslers#p109)
• 199 (84P199)

Periods 10, 20, 59, 60, and 83 use the same catalyst mechanism, and the other ones with period higher than 10 are only pipsquirters by coincidence, but can still be very useful. The p24, p42, and p199 have low clearance.

Pipsquirter spaceships which serve up a perpendicular domino spark in an identical such fashion also exist, with wasp being a c/3 orthogonal example.

Gallery

x = 18, y = 14, rule = B3/S23 5bo$5bo$2o8b3o$o2bob2o3b6o$bob5obo6bo$2bo6bo6bo$3b3o3b2o5b2o$5bo11bo$ 12bob3o$12b2o$15b2o$16bo$14bo$14b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 4 HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 21 THEME Book STARTFROM 4 ]]

The period-4 pipsquirter (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here

x = 15, y = 11, rule = B3/S23 3b2ob2o$b3obob3o$o4bo4bo$ob2o2b2obobo$bo2b2o3bobo$2b2o2b2obobob2o$4bo 4bobob2o$4b4ob2o$8bo$6bobo$6b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 4 HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 21 THEME Book STARTFROM 11 ]]

The period-6 pipsquirter (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here

x = 13, y = 22, rule = B3/S23 6b2o$6bobo$8bo$3bo2bob2o$3b4o$7b2o2b2o$3b4o$obo3bob2o$2ob2obobo$3bo4bo $3bobobob2o$2obobobobo$obo4bobo$2bob2obo2b2o$2bobo3bobo$b2o2bob2obo$2b obo4bo$2bo3b3o$3b2obo$8b3o$b7o2bo$bo2bo2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 4 HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 18 THEME Book STARTFROM 7 ]]

The period-7 pipsquirter (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here

x = 26, y = 21, rule = B3/S23 5b2o$2o2bo2bo$obo2bobo$2b4o2b2o$bo4b2o2bob2o$bob3o2b3obo$2bo2bobo4bo$ 3b2o2bob3o$4bobo2bo$4bobobo10bobo$ob2o3bo11b2o$2obob2o13bo$4bo5bo$5b2o 2bobo4b2o$2obobo4bo5bobo$ob2o2b4o6bo$4b2o18b2o$4bo2b3o13b2o$5b2obo16b o$10bo$9b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 20 HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 THEME Book ZOOM 18 ]]

A catalyst that generates a pipsquirter spark, shown here perturbing a 3-glider collision. Pipsquirters of arbitrary periods can be constructed through glider guns and the above reaction. The p10, p20, p59, p60, and p83 pipsquirters also rely on this mechanism, but they use alternate activations of this reaction that do not involve glider streams. The base form of this mechanism uses a Phi spark, but the resulting pi-heptomino has to be removed. (click above to open LifeViewer)

See also

• Pipsquirters (category)

External links

• Pipsquirter at the Life Lexicon