Thursday

Don’t meddle with this clever old metal.

 

METAL – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

Call it a carousel, a whirligig, or a whatchamacallit. Doesn’t matter. This old thing is pretty cool.

 It’s more than 50 years old. But it still works.

 Originally, we’d hang it directly over a Christmas tree light bulb, and the metal spinner would immediately begin to whirl. That was way back when those lights were a whole lot larger (and hotter) than the tiny ones found today. Now it takes a little longer for enough heat to rise and make the blade go around.

 But it’s still fun.


 

 It's kind of the same heat-activated physics principle as employed by those crafted wooden German pyramid carousels that work with candles. The heat generates the movement.

 I think this single ornament was once a set of four, perhaps purchased by my parents when there were only four of us. (That wasn’t the end of the story!) But the collection has dwindled over the years, so this is probably the last one left.

 

Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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