Rope physics · real time · pluck to play
A clock you can
pull and play.
It tells the real time, but the hands are strings. Grab the tip of any hand and pull it: it bends like a rope, and when you let go it swings home and plays a note. The further you pull, the higher it sounds. Press Limp and the hands give up and hang.
pull a hand · let go
How a hand becomes a string
Points and sticks
Each hand is a chain of 16 points joined by fixed-length links, pinned at the centre. Every frame the points move with a little momentum, then the links are pulled back to their length a few times over. That simple loop is all rope physics needs.
Why it still tells the time
A gentle pull to the right angle
Each point is softly pulled toward where it would be on a straight, stiff hand pointing at the current time. In Limp mode that pull almost disappears and gravity takes over.
The note when you let go
Pitch from the stretch
On release the page plays a short plucked-string sound made with Web Audio. Its pitch rises with how far you stretched the hand, and longer hands sound lower, like real strings. Sound is off until you turn it on.