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The Physics of Tetris


Released in 1984 Tetris has been confounding physicists as to how the blocks move in the way they do. Now almost 30 years later, the secrets of tetris have final revealed. The blocks are moved using a combination of magnetism and electricity to move the block sideways and down. Unseen to the player each block has a slight positive charge and at the bottom of the screen there is eletric plate that is negatively charged. This causes the block to accelerate downward but it is only on for a few milliseconds before it's turned off in order to keep the block at a constant velocity. As the game goes on, the plate is left charged for longer which means the block reaches a faster speed. When the player presses the down button, the plate becomes negative charged again, causing the block to accelerate again. In order to move the block left and right, when the player press the left or right buttons the game creates a magnetic field. Since the blocks have a velocity downward, the magnetic field exerts a force on the block to the left or right. For example when the play press the right button, the game creates a magnetic field into the screen and by the right hand rule, the block feels a force to the right. And when the player presses left, it creates a magnetic field out of the screen which sends the block to the left. In order to turn a block, the game has to create two magnetic fields in opposite directions(one in, one out) that split the block in half(top and bottom). This creates a torque on the block that causes it rotate. Finally once a row has been filled, it completes a circuit that now has a current running though it. Behind the screen, there is a wire carrying current in the same direction and since wires carrying current in the same direction attract, the row is sucked behind the screen leaving space for the remaining blocks to slide down. Tetris may seem like it defies most laws of physics but we can see that it has to follow the same rules as all of us.

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