Sculptures

Larger tensegrities begin to run up against limits imposed by weight and material strength. The Floating Logs sculpture for example weighs approximately 1000 lbs yet the tensional forces required to 'pull' it together exceed two tonnes. The larger the structure the lighter and stronger the materials need to be and the more fail safe the tensional components and linkages.

The Tensegrity wheel demonstrates in principle that a complex toroid such as a bicycle wheel can be completely modeled as a tensegrity. In this version there is no continuous compression or shear forces operating. At the molecular level and smaller, all structure coheres tensegrally.

Similarly the Vertebral Mast argues that the spine can successfully be modeled as a tensegrity mast with the suspensory forces carried by ligaments, tendons, and fascial 'slings' that suspend and cushion the weight of the torso in a gravity field. It's worth noting that tensegrity structures work equally well in weightless conditions.

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