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SWING · Pendulum timing

Bolas Beat

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Pendulum timing

Bolas Beat

One sticky droplet. One well-timed strike.

Watch the swinging droplet. Tap the action button or Space when it overlaps the moth. Choose a short or long silk line with the line-length control or left/right arrows.

Touch and keyboard supported · Gameplay stays ad-free

Watch how to play Bolas Beat

What the game helps you notice

A bolas spider flicks a silk line with an adhesive droplet toward prey. This timing game uses an ideal pendulum: line length affects its period, while the sticky tip provides the contact point.

What does a longer pendulum line change?

Its natural swing takes longer: in the small-angle model, period is proportional to the square root of line length.

A game inspired by science—not a biological simulator.

The repeating swing and prescribed moth path are practice patterns. Real strikes are actively driven, and stretching silk and deforming glue are more complex than a rigid pendulum.

Try this experiment: Which line takes longer to swing?

Keep swing energy and swing loss unchanged. Compare a short line and a long line, and count swings over the same interval.

Open this experiment and compare A / B →

Meet Mastophora hutchinsoni and explore its research, then use the return link to play again. The challenge scores are game feedback, not measurements of your scientific understanding.

Primary research: Diaz and Long, Insects (2022)