Balancing 3,118 coins on a dime

TaiStar42 accomplishes a jaw-dropping feat of dexterity, balance, and impractical engineering in this clip in which he balances 3,118 coins on a single, thin dime.

balancing tower of change 3118 coins on a single dime. 600 quarters, 501 dimes, 313 nickels, 1699 pennies, 5 foreign coins, and 7 hours of building. all real time clips,

on a dime 3000 (5th attempt, edited better) (via Neatorama)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Engineering • happy mutants • money • video • Weird

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Cowicide

No stranger to marijuana this man is.
http://twitter.com/pants formal sweatpants

This guy should be able to put this on a resume.
rocjoe

I can think of lots of good things to do with my time, but balancing my life savings on a desktop isn’t one of them.
- CharredBarn
  
  I kind of doubt someone who’s making snarky comments about strangers doing weird things on BoingBoing at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night can think of LOTS of good things to do with his time. I obviously can’t right now.
  - rocjoe
    
    Gosh, can’t a guy take a break from making prosthetic limbs for blind orphans for just 5 minutes without somebody jumping on his case? Sheesh…
- http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair
  
  His life savings will likely grow with ad revenue from his YouTube page.
  
  Then he can make a bigger stack! It’s a living(?)
zombienietzsche

MIND BLOWN
Stonewalker

I wonder how long he could continue in that pattern, given infinite strength properties of the material supporting the single dime. Forever? Help me out here, I’m not an engineer yet.
- Cowicide
  
  I wonder how long he could continue in that pattern
  
  Depends on which runs out first… his pot or his resolve.
- Matt Valley
  
  I have no idea how long that dime will last, but I remember reading a reddit analysis of this problem for stacks of legos.
  
  oh, here it is …
  http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/iy0ew/how_many_legos_stacked_one_on_top_of_the_other/c27kgru
Eddie Perkins

It’s a coinucopia!
http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11

And they say innovation is dead!

Plus, “edited *better*”? The mind boggles…
bo1n6bo1n6

Change comes from within.
- LogrusZed
  
  you’re talking about “ass pennies”.
  - bo1n6bo1n6
    
    If you get enough ass pennies into circulation, you’ll have an advantage over everyone.
Palomino

Both sides of the coin, if you will~

Heads: An imbalanced man living an unbalanced life, trying desperately to find some sense balance. (It’s all about sporting an attractive equilibrium.)

Tails: He’s actually Japanese, they dig this focal activity stuff. (It’s all about how certain people define “relaxation”.)
http://blog.mcglew.net Baconomy

Coins are pretty good to build with. He certainly beat my efforts, though.
http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

Not to be (too) nit-picky but he balances 3,117 coins on the dime. There are 3,118 coins in the tower, including the dime.
- CharredBarn
  
  Too nit-picky.
- Senor Schaffer
  
  BOOOOO!!!!!
Mister44

Girlfriends – He Wouldn’t Want One Anyway
MythicalMe

When I read the headline my first thought was the dime was on edge,which would have been really amazing and much more difficult. While I can appreciate the difficulty this structure presents, I can’t help but feel disappointed.
- Scratcheee
  
  I agree. What this guy did was really, really cool. But to use the word “balance” implies that there was a fulcrum upon which the whole deal could tip to one side or the other at any moment. I think “stacked” is a pretty good description for his feat. But then that undersells, because it doesn’t express the expansion out to the sides.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    But to use the word “balance” implies that there was a fulcrum upon which the whole deal could tip to one side or the other at any moment. I think “stacked” is a pretty good description for his feat.
    
    Cantilevered.
argexpat

Get a job hippie!
Keith Tyler

I just want to know where he lives where there are zero vibrations, and what his floor is made of that prevents his walking around with the camera from jarring the stack.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  In Southern California, if you’re on the ground floor, you’re on a concrete slab. There aren’t any vibrations until there’s an earthquake.
  - http://twitter.com/sarah_no_cal sarah_no_cal
    
    So you are saying that EVERY SINGLE STRUCTURE in So Cal is sitting directly on a concrete slab? That’s quite a broad statement..
    - dragonfrog
      
      Yes, they’re practically all sitting on a single concrete slab that covers the entire Southern half of the state. It was a New Deal make-work project. The only exceptions are buildings older than 1935.
Senor Schaffer

3118 coins. How much jerky is that?
daneyul

Very cool… but no shot of him tipping it over at the end?

Harshed my mellow, man.
noah django

what is the significance of placing the dime on the corner of the table?

also: how many dimes did he pack into his bong?

also: weed.
David Kopelman

The coin of the realm is misdirected endeavor.
Jordan Humphrey

Am I the only one who decided to add up the total cost of the coins? in case your wondering its $232.74 (unless I am wrong, I did just wake up 5 minutes ago) not counting foreign coins.
Skye MacLeod

This is terrific. I really like the point at ~1:56 where a bunch of coins fall and he says ”ah, don’t fall. Narly narly narly.” I think I’d be repeating that throughout the whole 7 hours.
- irksome
  
  The “g” in “gnarly” isn’t so much silent as it is quietly introspective when stoned.
- http://pewlpit.com/ Pewlpit
  
  You have perfectly captured the essence of this video in your comment, and so your comment has come first when we shared it at the Pewlpit.
10xor01

Wouldn’t want to go up against this guy in a winner-takes-all Jenga match.
http://homebiss.blogspot.com/ Saidul A Shaari

Amazing! He must be high or something. A common man would never attempt to do such a thing. :)
http://twitter.com/JakobDrud Jakob Drud

Incidentally, TaiStar42 is also chairman and founding member of The Earthquake Haters’ Association.
David Peacock

This is the fate of those who are lousy skateboarders.
MattF

You must embrace the equilibrium, you must embrace your inner inner ear, you must -be- the dime on the bottom.
anansi133

He’s clearly built a scale model of the american economy. -in which case the stack of coins can rise without limit, as long as he never stops building. The hour he stops putting new coins on the stack, the whole enterprise will tumble.
frankieboy

was OWS closed that day?
http://twitter.com/LaceyWelborn Lacey Welborn

Is anyone else disappointed they didn’t get to see it fall at the end?
- Treeswing
  
  Yeah, without the money shot I’m left unfulfilled.
http://twitter.com/aparliment Andrew P

@ stonewalker as far as I can tell, if strength of the support was not an issue, and you remove the chance of him knocking it completely over, then he could probably go on forever. I am not sure the strength of the bottom coins matters, since as long as weight is distributed evenly they will flatten while staying level. the strength of the table would be the only other limiting factor I can see.

does anyone know if he has broken/set any kind of world record? Also, if anyone cares this setup cost $232.74 and some foreign coins and would have weighed about 22.5 pounds.
Lobster

What do you mean a tube of crazy glue doesn’t count as a foreign coin? I’m sure there’s got to be SOME country where you could use it as currency!
MelSkunk

Man, SO much snark on this. He did this because he can, and it’s awesome he could.