Ethan Gao(@ga0_lab):Did you know you can create the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution with just some balls and a motor? I built this simple device to illustrate it. This is how it works: A spinning agitator pumps energy into ~400 balls, so they bounce around and collide like gas particles in a box. They escape one at a time through a tiny hole, then fall a fixed gap into bins below. Since the hole is so small, every ball leaves with no vertical speed and takes the same time to fall. Constant fall time means how far a ball flies sideways is set purely by its speed. A faster ball goes into a further bin. So each bin is really a speed. Tally all 400 and you get the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.

2026.06.27 15:00

Did you know you can create the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution with just some balls and a motor? I built this simple device to illustrate it. This is how it works: A spinning agitator pumps energy into ~400 balls, so they bounce around and collide like gas particles in a box. They escape one at a time through a tiny hole, then fall a fixed gap into bins below. Since the hole is so small, every ball leaves with no vertical speed and takes the same time to fall. Constant fall time means how far a ball flies sideways is set purely by its speed. A faster ball goes into a further bin. So each bin is really a speed. Tally all 400 and you get the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.