Week 4 - Initial Concept for Development: Burning The Candle At Both Ends

As part of the interaction a candle will need to burn at both ends so I've been looking into the practicalities of doing this.

One of the major questions that I have is "How will a candle burn if it is placed horizontally?". So I looked into it and found this demonstration video. The results are a bit concerning...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzA0sABkCaI

Unfortunately this video shows that the horizontal candle burns twice as fast. This however could avoided through different shaped candles?

Another interesting find!

Then I came across this video which sparked my imagination. A candle naturally rocks when both ends are lit!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u7OwGkWqrk

So I tried it myself...

It works!!! This has a number of positive impications for the tangible interaction that I've been contemplating! Here is a basic representation of how the information would be communicated.

Examples of information that could be communicated through a candle that can rotate on a pivot.

I will develop this further for the Tangible Interaction Presentation on Tuesday...