Definitions

Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gomboc.

Examples

  • Every kind of sweet was on display, szilvas gomboc plum dumplings, strudel and the famous Dobos-torta amongst others.

    At My Table 2006

  • Every kind of sweet was on display, szilvas gomboc plum dumplings, strudel and the famous Dobos-torta amongst others.

    Archive 2006-02-01 2006

  • Unlike a weeble though, the gomboc is not weighted, and relies upon its shape to achieve self-righting.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science SciencePunk none@example.com 2010

  • Like the famous Weebles, a gomboc will always return to the same position, righting itself when turned over.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science SciencePunk none@example.com 2010

  • There are many different solutions to the mathematical puzzle, giving rise to many different shapes of gomboc, but all are very nearly (mathematically) spherical and must be machined to tolereances of up to a hundredth of a millimetre.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science SciencePunk none@example.com 2010

  • A gomboc (to use its web-friendly spelling) is a mathematical puzzle made real.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science SciencePunk none@example.com 2010

  • Even though it's only a "mini-gomboc", it's a lot bigger than I expected.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science SciencePunk none@example.com 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A class of three-dimensional shapes that will reorient themselves to lie on a stable face no matter in what orientation they are initially placed. Qv gomboc.

    From HUN.

    December 19, 2007

  • Some cowrie shells are gombocs. If you put them on their backs, they roll right over automatically.

    December 19, 2007

  • Should add: the gomboc is a distinct class of shapes, vaguely like a tortoise-shell, that has one stable and one unstable mechanical equilibrium point each—the geometry that makes it self-righting.

    December 19, 2007

  • Yeah, the gomboc is a very particular shape: an ugly one. I don't like it. I will attempt to discredit it by saying that while there are some shapes of inherent mathematical significance, the gomboc is not one of them. Because the other shapes' properties are true in any context, practical or theoretical, while the gomboc requires the physical characteristics of Earth (namely, gravity), without which it is just another ugly block.

    December 19, 2007

  • To be slightly more charitable, it doesn't so much require the physical characteristics of Earth so much as an approximately constant unidirectional force field.

    Now those you can find just about anywhere. :-)

    December 19, 2007

  • Especially this time of year. ;->

    December 19, 2007

  • "It is mostly known in the folk culture as kis gömböc, a round creature in the loft that remained from a killed pig, which swallows everyone one after the other who goes to see what happened to the previous ones".

    Didn't they make a horror movie about this at some point?

    Oh wait, that's the plot of every horror movie ever made.

    December 20, 2007

  • In HUN, gömböc means "sphere-like," or some such, so there's little surprise the word has other meanings in Magyar culture.

    December 20, 2007