Kinesculpture Stopping: Is It Physics or Complaints?

[swampwiz]

This item has caught my eye, and some of the comments by the customers complain about the kinesculpture stopping.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073G984Q7/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I am not sure about exactly how it works, but I would guess that the battery drive a coil in the base, and the arms have permanent magnets in them, with Lorentz forces as a result. Since this is a very slowly dissipating chaotic-dynamic system, I could see the potential energy reaching a point very close to maximum - which should be a "hill", and hence an inherently unstable point - but that the kinetic energy just happens to get very, very low, with the small amount of friction causing the hill to have a very shallow valley at the top, but one that is steep enough to be locally stable.

Perhaps these customers are complaining because they don't understand physics well enough?

 

[Delta2]

Most likely they stop because some are faulty or not assembled correctly and have big friction between the moving parts.

 

[A.T.]

Perhaps these customers are complaining because they don't understand physics well enough?

It's not their job to understand it. It is advertised do work continuously. If it locks itself in a static position, despite having good batteries, then they are right to complain.