Domino is a type of flat, thumbsized, rectangular block that’s either blank or bears from one to six pips (or dots). 28 dominoes make up a complete set. They’re used in a wide variety of games to build lines and angular structures. Unlike cards, which are played in a deck, dominoes can be rearranged and laid down again.
When the first domino falls, much of its potential energy converts to kinetic energy (energy of motion). Some of that kinetic energy gets transmitted to the next domino, providing the push it needs to fall. And that process continues, all the way down the line.
Hevesh, who creates her mind-blowing domino setups on YouTube and for movies and events (including a Katy Perry album launch), follows a version of the engineering-design process when creating her installations. She starts by considering the theme of an installation and brainstorming images or words she might want to use. She also does a lot of testing, laying out smaller versions of her setups in flat arrangements to see how they work.
Once she has a design in mind, Hevesh begins laying out the largest 3-D sections of her installation. Then she adds a series of lines to connect the biggest sections together. Finally, she puts the remaining dominoes into place.
It takes a little nudge to get that first domino to tip over, but once it does, the force of gravity takes over. The center of gravity of each domino is relatively high, so it doesn’t take much of a force to push them over. But it’s important to remember that not all force is equal: the first domino may only be a few inches thick, but if it’s resting on a million other dominoes, that tiny nudge can create an avalanche of destruction.
In a similar way, a single scene domino in a novel can be insignificant by itself, but when a number of them appear together, they can have a huge impact. A novel’s scene dominoes might be a key clue that advances the plot, or a statement that establishes an argument.
In the early 1970s, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan realized that putting his pizzerias in the right locations was crucial to his success. He focused on placing Domino’s near colleges and universities, figuring that students would be looking for quick, affordable food when they got off campus. And the strategy paid off, bringing Domino’s more than 200 stores by 1978.