Domino’s pizza delivery drivers race to reach customers with a 30-minute window. When they miss that deadline, a chain reaction is set in motion. Whether it’s a chain of drug store firings or a rash of burglaries in an apartment complex, a domino effect occurs when one event triggers a cascade of events that affects many people or things.
The chain reaction is similar to a series of nerve impulses fired down an axon in your brain. They travel at a constant speed without losing energy, and they can only go in one direction. They are controlled by the synapse, which acts like a gate that allows or blocks the passage of messages.
When a domino is knocked over, it releases energy in the form of a pulse that goes all the way to the end of the axon. The axon then moves in the direction of the signal, triggering other axons to fire. This continues in a cyclic fashion, transmitting the signal to ever-increasing numbers of cells, until it reaches the brain. It’s the equivalent of a domino effect in your body, but it happens much faster.
Hevesh started playing with dominoes as a child. Her grandparents had the classic 28-pack and she loved setting up the pieces in a straight or curved line, flicking the first domino, and watching it fall.
As she got older, she began to study the forces that caused dominoes to fall. She discovered that the force that holds a domino upright is potential energy, which is stored in the pieces and released when they are knocked over. Once the first domino has fallen, this energy converts to kinetic energy, which gives the next piece the push it needs to fall.
Dominoes also have a tendency to move, or “cascade,” if they are pushed from the side. This is due to a property of their material, which is made from a kind of clay called gypsum. The gypsum has a low melting point, so it will liquefy if heated to the melting point of water. This property can be used to make dominoes that will flop over if pressed from the side.
In her studies of potential energy, Hevesh found that the more surface area a piece had, the more energy it could store and release. She also discovered that the shape of a domino’s apex, or tip, influences its movement and how fast it will cascade. A flat apex will move more slowly than a tall one, and the size of the apex can affect how long it takes to fall.
In storytelling, each scene can be a domino. If it advances the hero’s goal or provides new information, it can cause a chain reaction of scenes that build and lead to a climax. The key is to ensure that the dominoes are paced properly, so that they move forward without any hiccups or unnecessary stops along the way. This is why it’s important for authors to use tools such as outlines or Scrivener to create an outline of their plot before they begin writing.