Machine with Concrete - Arthur Ganson

Arthur Ganson · 1.2M views · 2008-11-29 · 1:00

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Overview

Arthur Ganson's kinetic sculpture chains twelve 1:50 worm gear reductions so the final gear, embedded in concrete, would take over two trillion years to turn once.

On Hacker News

Shared whenever gear reductions, exponential scaling or playful kinetic art come up.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2015–2025

Topics

Mechanical & precision engineering Visual arts, photography & architecture Magic, puzzles & curiosities

What people said

Doxin · 2025-07 · Recommendation
I think the artist put it as "and then the last gear turns so slowly it doesn't really matter, so I cast it in concrete." Assuming we're talking about Arthur Gansons "Machine with concrete"[0] of course. I quite like how a lot of his work seems to have a punchline to it. [0] [VIDEO]
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kybernetikos · 2018-10 · Recommendation
I think this one is quite interesting: [VIDEO] A motor connected to a series of reduction gears, with the last part of the chain encased in concrete.
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zimpenfish · 2020-07 · Reference
[VIDEO] "With the motor turning around 200 revolutions per minute, it will take well over two trillion years before the final gear makes but one turn."
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Sources

Video by Arthur Ganson, played through YouTube.

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