Astrojax Plus, V-Max & Saturn FAQ

ASTROJAX - THE FREE-DIMENSIONAL ORBITER

What are Astrojax?

It is essentially 3 weighted foam balls attached by a piece of string with the middle ball freely moving. Although it sounds quite simple, the construction of Astrojax is very sophisticated. Incorrect spellings include Astro-Jax, Astrojacks, and Asto-Jacks.

Each ball has a high-density precision-machined metal weight to provide maximum performance and smooth action while playing. The fast spinning motion of the balls is based on the physical principles of rotational dynamics.

There is an Astrojax Saturn - an LED version that leaves a trail of light behind the Aj balls.

Astrojax is an entirely new breed of toy, a revolutionary concept with possibilities we are only just starting to understand. Every day Astrojax players around the world are discovering new tricks and exciting moves no one thought were possible. And word is spreading fast that Astrojax is what the real thrill seekers are now playing - a game all about action, rhythm and your own personal style.

Astrojax was invented by the American physicist Larry Shaw.
While still at graduate school Shaw discovered the basic principle of Astrojax while playing with hex nuts and dental floss in a physics lab.
Intrigued by the complex patterns this simple arrangement created, he started to develop the idea. What first looked quite simple was actually very hard to solve mathematically. It took almost two years and hundreds of prototypes before Shaw decided on a model and had the principle patented.

Finding the right company to produce the toy was the next hurdle. Like many other breakthrough inventions, Astrojax was not understood by the large established toy companies since it didn't fit in their standard categories. Shaw formed a toy company himself which produced Astrojax before he finally met a partner with a record in making and promoting unusual and innovative motion toys. Since the year 2000 the Swiss toy company ACTIVE PEOPLE has taken charge of production and worldwide distribution of Astrojax.

Astrojax wins prestigeous toy awards in the United States and already has three different categories in the Guinness Book of Records.

The aj product family is gradually growing with SATURN the exciting light up version introduced in 2002 and V-MAX following in the same year, all in a completely new look created by Swiss designer Alex Hochstrasser.

More and more dedicated players are pushing the possibilities of Astrojax further, inventing new styles and tricks at a growing pace.

2003 is shaping up to become the big Astrojax year! Together with major distributors Astrojax is being launched all around the world, from Australia to Finland, Hong Kong to Mexico - everywhere Astrojax will be swinging...

Like most great ideas, Astrojax actually seems surprisingly simple:

Astrojax is a fascinating new toy illustrating a wide variety of basic science principles.

PLANETARY/ORBITAL MOTION
During vertical orbits the outer ball orbits around the middle ball. However, just as with the orbital motion of the earth and moon, neither ball is still - both balls are in motion. During horizontal orbits, both balls orbit in perfect circles. Our earth orbits around the sun and our moon orbits around the earth in ellipses which are not quite circular, but close!

ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS
A metal weight concentrates the mass at the center of the middle ball. This allows the middle ball to spin rapidly. (A diver uses the same principle when she tucks into a ball during a dive so she can spin faster. Similarly, an ice skater uses this principle when he brings in his arms during a twirl to spin faster.) Because the middle ball can spin rapidly, the string never tangles around the middle ball!

FRICTION
During horizontal orbits the middle ball does not slide on the string, so energy is not lost to friction. This is why horizontal orbits last a long time without any hand motion. However, during vertical orbits the center ball does slide up and down on the string. (If you listen closely you can hear it sliding.) Therefore energy is lost to friction, and vertical orbits require tugs of the hand to add energy to sustain the orbits.

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE
As the velocity of the horizontal orbits increases, the string attached to the end ball becomes more and more horizontal. As the string becomes more horizontal, it can exert more inwards force on the end ball. This illustrates that the inward force required to produce circular orbits increases as the velocity of the orbits increases.