by Domino is a small rectangular block of wood or plastic, each side bearing an arrangement of spots or pips like those on dice. A domino is normally twice as long as it is wide. One face is marked with an identity, such as a number from six to zero, and the other is blank or identically patterned. Dominoes may also be referred to as bones, cards, tiles, men, or tickets. They are usually sold in sets of 28 pieces.
Children often play with a set of dominoes, stacking them on end in long lines. When the first domino is tipped over, it triggers the next domino in line to tip over and so on until all of the dominoes have fallen. The result is a beautiful pattern of interlocking shapes. This simple act is a great example of the “domino effect,” in which a small action has dramatic and often catastrophic consequences.
While dominoes are not always used to create artistic designs, they can be arranged in straight or curved lines, grids that form pictures when they fall, or 3D structures like towers and pyramids. Some designers even build intricate tracks and layouts for domino racing. One such track designer, Lily Hevesh, built a 15-color rainbow spiral with 12,000 dominoes.
Despite their seemingly fragile nature, dominoes are very durable. They can withstand great amounts of force, including a car crash or a rocket launch. They are also incredibly versatile, with different configurations of dominoes able to produce an endless variety of patterns and effects.
Dominoes are used in games such as chinese checkers, drawing dominoes, and pai gow poker. They can also be positioned to cover a particular area of a board and act as barriers in games such as tic-tac-toe and battleships. Dominoes can also be paired with other toys to create unique games, such as monopoly and abacus.
As a teaching tool, dominoes are often used to illustrate the principles of physics and mathematics. They are especially useful in teaching the concept of inertia, which is the tendency of a physical object to resist motion when no external force is exerted on it. Dominoes also demonstrate the law of conservation of energy, which states that any object with mass has a fixed amount of potential energy.
Dominoes can be used to teach writing skills as well, as the act of constructing a domino chain helps students understand how to write a story. In addition, the process of constructing a scene from an emotional beat to its conclusion helps writers learn how to logically connect scenes.
One of the biggest lessons I try to convey when teaching students how to edit their novels is that every scene should function as a domino in a sequence. If a writer forgets to link a scene to its preceding scene, it will likely fall flat. If a scene doesn’t add to the overall tension of the story, it’s likely unnecessary. This is an essential lesson for both aspiring and veteran authors alike!
