> "Suppose that we ask: “Are the physical laws symmetrical under a change of scale?” . . . Another example: we see in the newspaper, every once in a while pictures of a great cathedral made with little matchsticks—a tremendous work of art by some retired fellow who keeps gluing matchsticks together. . . The fact that the laws of physics are not unchanged under a change of scale was discovered by Galileo . . . [who] was so impressed with this discovery that he considered it to be as important as the discovery of the laws of motion, because he published them both in the same volume, called “On Two New Sciences.”"
Are little custom-ordered wooden sticks really "matchsticks"? I'm wondering if the other enthusiasts in this category all shaved off the ignitable parts of the matches to build their creations (which is what this man said he got tired of doing and ended up just ordering plain sticks)
They were matchsticks, just without the tip. That begs the question, when he was cutting off the tips, how much of the matchstick was cut off? Is thre a standard size for a matchstick and is that with or without the tip?
Doesn’t it suggest he was shaving the combustible part off rather than cutting off the head altogether, and that this is standard practice in the matchbox modeling community? It seems like that would yield a minimal change in size, just the natural length of the stick before it was dipped in the head compound bath.
I do share your wonder about whether there are size norms in the modeling community, though, given the extremely wide range of match sizes I have even in my own house.
Obviously, a match with the chemical coating on the head has a wooden part that we call a matchstick.
Does removing this coating and leaving only the wood make that object no longer a matchstick? It seems the community has decided it does not.
But is any piece of wood a matchstick? I'd argue it is not, it's just a piece of wood. It's the addition of the chemical head that turns it from lumber into a match, if that hasn't happened yet - or doesn't happen ever, then there's nothing match-like about it.
Otherwise I could argue that my 2-story house is built of matchsticks, they're just still in 2x4 form 8 feet long, having not been sawn down yet, and (to comply with fire code) not yet coated.
Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?
> Before Theseus departed on his journey, were the trees that would eventually be used to repair his ship considered to be already the Ship of Theseus, planks and spars still hidden in trees like a statue in marble that hadn't even been quarried yet?
> Maybe after, but not before!
What about the planks ordered and bought to build the ship ?
> It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
A matchstick is the wooden part of a match so I don't see the issue with using plain sticks as long as they have the same dimensions, in fact perhaps it's possible to buy actual matchsticks.
The Guinness record for largest matchstick model belongs to a North Sea oil platform model with over 4 million matches (compared to 706,900 for the Eiffel tower) [1].
Yes, from what I understand their entire business model is based on selling "world record" certifications to people and brands for pr/marketing stunts:
Guinness World Records is a brand of the Jim Pattison Group, a conglomerate that also owns Ripley Entertainment. It hasn't been connected with Guinness beer, the brand of the drinks company Diageo, since the early 2000s.
I was going to make a joke about different safety standards over a century ago, but then I discovered that no one died during the building of the original Eiffel tower. Color me impressed!
> "Suppose that we ask: “Are the physical laws symmetrical under a change of scale?” . . . Another example: we see in the newspaper, every once in a while pictures of a great cathedral made with little matchsticks—a tremendous work of art by some retired fellow who keeps gluing matchsticks together. . . The fact that the laws of physics are not unchanged under a change of scale was discovered by Galileo . . . [who] was so impressed with this discovery that he considered it to be as important as the discovery of the laws of motion, because he published them both in the same volume, called “On Two New Sciences.”"
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_52.html